One by One, the Petals Fall
by Rose in the Permafrost
Summary: Here we have Candi Shadburn, another transfer student at Ouran. It's quickly public knowledge that she's is gay. Because of skills that run in her family, no one objects to her oddly close friendship with Kyouya. However, the secret she keeps starts to haunt her once more, and someone's going to need to save her from herself. KyouyaxOC TamakixOC
1. Chapter 1: Secrets, I Has It

**Hey! I was wondering one day why I never see any OC's who are gay, so that's what inspired this story!**

**I never have and never nor will own Ouran High School Host Club. I also do not own the sexy hosts. I do not own Japan or Canada or America. The only thing I (think) I own in this story is my dear OC, and… well I will claim no further before I get sued. **

**A lot of these chapters need heavy editing, since I keep getting better at writing, but I will do my best to edit as I go along.**

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Chapter 1: Secrets-I has it

"Hello! My name is Candi!" she said, waving. She had elbow length, slightly curly auburn hair. She must not have been fitted for the uniform yet, because she wore an oversized white long-sleeved t-shirt with a picture of the Beatles' logo on it and a pair of denim shorts that were definitely against the dress code. She looked good in it- her legs were lightly tanned and hairless. I silently gave a nod of approval for her outfit- naturally casual and easygoing. The sport's bra was a nice touch, since it was purple and visible on her shoulders.

"Hikaru, who is that?" My twin asked. He leaned over across the aisle to ask me. I knocked his head.

"She just said she's Candi, idiot" I replied, a deadpan look on my face.

"I know, but that's an American name." I think Kaoru barely registered me calling him an idiot.

"I've never heard that name, what does her family do?" I asked in reply. I wonder what, since she had to be powerful and/or smart to be in this class.

"Now you're the idiot. In America, they give their first names. That wasn't her family name."

"Oh. Kyouya must know already. We'll have to see."

"Who?" Kyouya asked, fingers ready at his new Chameleon. They were the latest thing: imagine an iPad. For the rich. The software was revolutionary. MY dad respected it, and he owned a computer software company himself. Whoever owned the Chameleon- Kaoru remembered their name since he liked how they sounded- were complete geniuses. However, they were very powerful since everyone rich had one. They knew exactly how the software worked, and could hack in at any moment. People would rather keep their secrets than defy that family.

"Candi. It's an American name." Kaoru made sure he was clear about that. I rolled my eyes as Kyouya's finger typed.

"Candi…. she's part of the…" Kyouya's voice faded. He cleared his throat. "Shadburn." Now I remember.

"You're kidding" everyone spoke in unison. Except for Haruhi, who looked confused.

"What do they do?" she asked. We all sighed. Expect the commoner to not know.

"Haruhi" I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. Kaoru did the same.

"Kris and Colby Shadburn"

"Made that"

"Over there" Kaoru and I pointed to the Chameleon in Kyouya's hands.

"Do you know"

"How expensive"

"That thing is?" We asked together, looking at her reaction.

She rolled her eyes. "So they sell a high-priced fancy tablets. So what."

"Haruhi, even I know the software is made of absolute genius" Honey said, hugging Haruhi's waist.

"So? They come out with one every other week."

"Haruhi, I no longer have a phone. This is it" Kyouya said, holding a smartphone sized touch screen in his hand. I grinned at Haruhi's confusion.

"Isn't that just a smartphone?" she asked.

Kyouya stretched it out. Literally. He quickly put his fingers around two corners and the screen got larger as he pulled more and more.

"Woah" Haruhi said, amazed. She walked over and sat next to Kyouya, observing it in her hand. "And Candi's parents made this?"

"Yes. You can see why they are a respected family" Kyouya said, putting his Chameleon back in his hands, and furrowing his eyebrows at the information in front of him.

"What's up Kyouya?" I asked, standing over him. Kaoru did the same.

"I can't find any more information on her. All I know is that she doesn't have to wear the uniform, but I'd expect that. Only the family with upmost power can get that kind of permission."

"Lucky!" Haruhi said. I laughed. Of course Haruhi would not want the uniform. She could just dress in her normal boyish clothes and not have to worry.

However, I wondered why the girl I met earlier today was wearing what she was. The t-shirt she was wearing was almost meant for a guy. The shorts were something a commoner would wear. I didn't see any labels. It didn't look like she did anything to her hair. Did she not realize that at this school, you are judged very quickly by your appearance? I approved of her look, but other people here probably thought she was cheap.

And she didn't even pay any attention in class! I just saw her draw random things in her notebook. She filled up an entire page with these drawings. Did she expect to be able to study like this?! Even I studied for about an hour a day.

Then again, her family is made up of absolute geniuses. I'd expect her to be just as smart. Other than that, I don't know what to expect from her.

Kyouya's POV

I did not see Candi today. I wonder how I'll become acquainted with her in time. I had to establish a positive relationship with her. If not, one where she had to listen to me.

At home, I searched 'Candi Shadburn', hoping for some new information. However, I found nothing. She was mentioned in a couple articles about her parents, but that didn't help. She didn't even have a Facebook. I did, however, find a picture of her in Google Images, and I couldn't help but to stare for a second.

Candi had long, lightly curled auburn hair. Her lightly tanned skin had a single imperfection- a thin, white scar just below her right knee. She was smiling in this picture, and her eyes twinkled. They were a deep turquoise, and they seemed to reach me even through the screen. I could almost feel her happiness, even though I had no clue why she was happy. And her smile was perfect- white teeth, straight and framed perfectly by her lips.

I shook my head, and looked away for a second. I hadn't even met this girl, and I was captivated by a simple picture of her. I couldn't have that.

When I looked back, I was determined to be professional. I should be able to figure out a few things about her though this picture.

Her sense of fashion was very dull. In this picture, she was wearing a purple flannel shirt with a red shirt underneath. She was also wearing large black basketball shorts. I don't understand why someone would want a picture of her like that- she wasn't exactly in top condition.

Then again, this might be her normal attire. She might wear somewhat boyish clothes everywhere she goes. I don't think she'd be hard to spot at lunch tomorrow, at the very least.

Haruhi's POV

My stomach growled. I sighed- lunch wasn't for another half hour. I left in a hurry this morning, so I didn't get breakfast. I heard a yawn beside me. I looked over, and Candi was sitting there. It still felt so weird to have a new student. We don't get those very often.

My stomach growled again quietly when I saw that she was eating strawberry Pocky sticks. She looked over.

"Want some?" she whispered, holding out the package. I nodded, taking one. Candi was nice.

"You can have all of it" she said, still holding out the package. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Thanks" I whispered, taking the package.

"Haruhi!" the teacher said when I was about to take a bite from a Pocky stick. I jumped in surprise.

"Yes?" I asked.

"No eating in class. You've earned yourself a lunch detention. Next time, it will be an after-school detention."

A bunch of people turned around to snicker at me.

"Hang on" Candi said, standing up. She quickly eyed all the students glaring at me. They all quickly turned back towards the teacher. She finally was looking at the teacher. Was she seriously going to defend me against the teacher?

The teacher paled at her gaze.

"I see no problem with eating in class. If someone is hungry, they should eat. I literally heard Haruhi's stomach growl twice. I was already eating food, so there shouldn't be a problem. Right? If I can eat, then I say that Haruhi can eat too."

The teacher nodded quietly, and Candi sat down, smiling at me.

Sensei resumed talking, and I smiled back at Candi. Thank goodness for her- she saved me a spot on my perfect record. I liked Candi.

"Thanks" Kaoru said, putting an arm around Candi.

"For that" Hikaru continued, also putting an arm around Candi.

"For what?" Candi asked, confused.

"They also wanted to thank you for saving me a lunch detention with sensei. Thanks again" I explained.

"Oh that! No problem. I don't think it's fair for the teacher to let me eat, but not you." She laughed. "Sensei literally looked at me, looked at my Pocky, and then resumed teaching. She can't deny that she knew."

Hikaru and Kaoru laughed, and I smiled. We were all walking down to lunch.

"So why weren't you at lunch yesterday?" Hikaru asked.

"Reasons. I just ate a lot when I got home from school."

"Woah. I could never go on without lunch. Or lunch break" Kaoru said, amazed. I laughed.

"You two are growing boys. Of course you need to eat a lot" I said in a motherly tone. Hikaru and Kaoru laughed.

"Haruhi, you worry about these two a lot, don't you?" Candi asked, yawning. She put her hands in the pockets of her shorts.

"I swear, this kid acts like our-" Hikaru said before he was cut off.

"HARUHI!" yelled a voice. A mass of blonde hair flew at me, tackling me to the ground. "I'M SO GLAD YOU DIDN'T GET IN TROUBLE!"

"Sempai, get off of me" I sighed. He instantly got up off of me, and saw Candi.

"Are you the rumored Candi?" Tamaki asked. I couldn't stop him before Candi nodded.

"THANKYOU! THANKYOUTHANKYOU! YOU SAVED HARUHI!" he yelled, hugging her tightly. I didn't notice this until now, but Candi was the same height as Tamaki. How strange. Well, she was not Asian. Of course she'd be taller than the average Japanese girl.

"No problemo" she said. Tamaki looked at her, smiling.

"You're welcome to eat with us, if you'd like" Tamaki said, gesturing to the table the host club usually sat at. I could see him turn him charm on when he left an arm around her.

"I'm going to get my food" Candi said, nodding at us as she left. I saw Tamaki deflate a little bit.

"Tamaki, not everyone absolutely loves your sweet talk" I said bluntly.

"But no one before had acted that way around me!" he said, frustrated. Hikaru and Kaoru each held up two fingers.

"Renge" Hikaru said, both of them putting down one finger.

"Haruhi" Kaoru said, both of them putting down the other finger.

Tamaki pouted. But then he brightened. "I'm just not her type. I wonder what type she does like."

I rolled my eyes, sitting down at our table. "I just want to eat."

I saw a group of guys walk towards the lunch line. I didn't pay much attention to them, until I saw Tamaki glare at them. "What's bad about them?" I asked, my mouth half full.

"Those guys are in our year" Honey said, explaining. "They can charm any girl they want, just like we can. They just got off of suspension for beating up a girl."

I could hear Tamaki's teeth grind. I did feel some anger as well- I would hate anyone who would beat up someone was nearly defenseless.

"Hey there missy" they said. I felt my eyes widen. They were talking to Candi.

"Want to eat with us?" one of them asked. I could feel his ego from here.

"No" she said bluntly. She turned back towards the lunch line.

"Come on" another said, grinning cockily. "We'd love you- I mean, we'd love it if you came."

I saw her roll her eyes. The group of guys scoffed, and they turned to another girl.

"How about you? You're completely welcome."

"Um, n-no tha-anks-s" the girl stuttered. She must be shy, since her face turned red.

"Don't be like that, little girly. Just one time."

"Hey!" Candi said loudly. "She said no. Leave her alone."

They scoffed. "What are you doing here again? Want more?"

"No. I want you to leave her alone." I saw her lean in and whisper something to all of them, and I saw them pale.

"Sorry" they said together, leaving quickly. I was amazed. She had to be brave if she was willing to face sensei and a bunch of lowlifes. I saw her yawn.

Kyouya's POV

_Casual_

_Very protective of others_

_Either wants people to shut up, or willingly defends victims_

So far, that's all I had been able to conclude about her personality. I was carefully taking notes about all I could see about her, but I couldn't see much in the past couple days. This girl was much harder to investigate than I thought. I searched for hours and hours, looked anywhere that medical records could be, and there was still nothing. Well, I knew there was something medical they wanted to keep secret, because whenever I requested medical information on her, they said no.

I exhaled sharply. This was starting to get irritating.

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	2. Chapter 2: Confusion, I Has It Too

Chapter 2: Confusion-I has it too

Hikaru's POV

I sighed. Tamaki was like a little puppy, he was so exited over something simple.

"Tamaki, you didn't need to kidnap her and take her to a beach" I sighed, referring to the sleeping Candi.

"She didn't have any problem, though!" Tamaki protested. "I drove up, said come in with me, and she came in! That's not kidnapping!"

"Yea, but Tamaki- just for saving Haruhi a lunch detention?" Kaoru asked with a 'Really?' look on his face.

"She saved Haruhi's record!"

Haruhi glared at Tamaki. "Sh! She's sleeping"

"Oh. Right" Tamaki whispered back. He sighed, leaning his head against the headrest. I did so as well, as did Kaoru.

"Man, how does she sleep on something like this?" I mumbled to myself. As if on cue, Candi's head falls off the seat and onto my shoulder. I guess it is that uncomfortable.

I blushed when I fully realized that Candi's head really was on my shoulder. I could feel her soft hair and smell something strange. Strange and new. I don't know what it was- maybe she just had her own, special smell. I noticed then that she was wearing a largely oversized sweater with English letters written on it and tight black crop leggings. I think it said 'MIT', whatever that meant.

I wondered what to do. I couldn't shake her off or put her back on that uncomfortable headrest. I guess I could just leave her there, but then I don't know about the eventual effect of that.

I sighed. This shouldn't be such a big deal. She was nice, so she should just be able to sleep comfortably on someone's shoulder. I could at least do that for her, after seeing her defend that random shy girl. I doubt I'd have the courage to do that if I was in her situation.

"WE'RE HERE!" Tamaki yelled when the car came to a stop. He instantly climbed out, tugging Haruhi's hand along with him.

"Sempai!" she yelled, but allowing herself to be dragged.

I sighed. Time to wake up Candi.

I turned to her, and I felt my mouth hang open a little. She was smiling faintly, a look of pure bliss on her face. I shook my head.

"Candi" I said, poking her face. She didn't wake up.

"Candi!" Kaoru said, louder, and poking her face with me this time.

"Gah, shut up!" she said grumpily. She glared at me, and I then realized she might have THE blood type.

"Sorry!" I yelled, backing up quickly. Kaoru did the same. She huffed.

"Why am I here?" she asked, looking out the open door. Tamaki's head popped in.

"Come on out! We're at the beach now!"

"Oh" she said, her rage seeming to dull. "Coming."

"That was close" Kaoru whispered.

"Yeah" I agreed. I climbed out of the car, and stretched. "How long are we renting the beach?"

"Today and tomorrow!" Tamaki yelled over his shoulder. "Thank goodness it's Friday today!"

I sighed. He really was hyper.

I saw Candi walk beside me. I looked at her. "You know, you're probably never going to get rid of Tamaki after this."

She shrugged. "If he's really that hyper, then he can do what he wants. It would take way too much energy to stop it."

I laughed. "Good theory. Just wait until he finds out how to get to you."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm usually cool with whatever."

"How are you?" Tamaki said suddenly, hugging Candi violently. "This beach trip is for you."

"Fine. I just got here though…" Candi sighed. Tamaki was still hugging her tightly, but I wondered why she didn't care.

"How do you like the beach?" he said, gesturing towards the open water. She looked.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, puzzled.

"We rented the beach" Tamaki said proudly.

"Wow. I never would've thought of that idea." She yawned. "I needed a tan anyways."

Kyouya's POV

I sat under an umbrella, still observing Candi. She was just lying in the sun, tanning. But observing her meant staring at her practically bare back. I sighed. I felt slightly perverted, trying to figure something out about her when she was mostly naked.

"Sorry they forced you into a bikini" Haruhi said. She was reading a book under an umbrella, also in a swimsuit.

"No prob. I couldn't tan in a one piece anyways."

'_Drifts with the wind'_

"Haruhi! Come play volleyball with us!" Tamaki and Hikaru yelled together. Beach volleyball. Such a useless sport. It was difficult enough to move around in the shifting sand, let alone trying to run around in it."

"No thanks!" Haruhi yelled in reply. Tamaki somehow found a place to grow mushrooms, and Hikaru and Kaoru laughed. Sometimes I wondered if I was the only one besides Haruhi who was sane, let alone normal. Then again, Candi might also be sane. I just didn't know that yet. She certainly wasn't hyper and crazy like Tamaki.

"Candi?" Honey said, poking her arm. Candi's head turned towards Honey.

"What's up sweetie?"

"WHY'D SHE CALL HIM SWEETIE?!" Tamaki yelled, again going insane. He was ignored.

"Do you like cake? We should go get some later."

"Sure" Candi said, yawning. "I wonder if there's FunFetti in Japan."

"What's Funfetti?!" Honey said, sitting cross-legged beside her, seeming to be very exited. "I haven't had it before."

Go figure.

I smiled at Honey's excitement. He was always exited about anything new about cake, and would instantly bond with Candi if she knew of more new kinds of cake. I wonder if she mentioned FunFetti on purpose. Did she know that she would instantly bond with Honey if she did that? I still didn't know if she had that sort of dimension to her.

"Tamaki!" Candi yelled loudly. He looked over at her.

"Yea!?"

"So I'm guessing Haruhi's a girl…"

Everyone froze, except me. I had questioned Tamaki and Haruhi on allowing a swimsuit, but they didn't listen.

The volleyball hit Hikaru's face.

"Uh… yea. I guess you could say that…" Kaoru said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Alright. Nice to know you guys don't random boys up in women's swimsuits" she said, chuckling, and turning her head towards Haruhi. I could see the look on her face: curiously interested. That wasn't a surprise: she did know Haruhi as a boy up until now.

_Knows Haruhi is a girl_

Maybe this miniature vacation would turn out to be worth it.

Haruhi's POV

I turned around when I heard voices of a couple of girls. I looked over, and they were in bikini's, carrying a volleyball.

"Hey!" one of them shouted. "Can we play volleyball with you?!"

Tamaki looked over at them, and he smiled. "Sure. Come on ahead."

They smiled, giggling. They walked over to the volleyball court. "Yuuki" one of them said.

"Ayaka" the other introduced herself. Hikaru and Kaoru came up behind them, both putting arms around both of them.

"You play volleyball?" they asked. They blushed.

"Yea" Yuuki said.

"We're both on the volleyball team at school" Ayaka said.

"That's cool!" Honey said, popping up out of nowhere, Mori behind him. "Our school doesn't have a volleyball team, I think."

"Yes we do, Honey" Kyouya corrected him.

Honey's eyes filled with tears. "Sorry Yuuki-chan and Ayaka-chan. I guess we do."

Candi was suddenly hugging Honey and patting his back. I was surprised she could move that fast, especially in this shifty sand. Kyouya typed something on his Chameleon.

"It's okay Honey. I didn't even know that we had a volleyball team. It's alright."

Honey smiled, hugging Candi tightly. "Thanks Candi-chan."

Candi stood up, and smiled as she ruffled his hair. "You got me if you need me." She calmly walked back to her towel, and laid down on her back. She was watching the volleyball game that was happening between everyone else, and I furrowed my eyebrows. She wasn't interested in the game before, so what gives?

I put down my book as I tried to figure out what was going through Candi's mind. I didn't know her very well, so I wasn't how her mind worked. What suddenly caught her interest?

I smiled. This was a perfect exercise to figure out why people did things, which would help in my lawyer career.

Before she was interested, everyone was just playing volleyball. She wasn't asleep, and she seemed to be in her usual carefree state. Then the girls came. Then Honey was sad, so that might be it. Maybe she liked Honey for some reason. However, what I did know about her character was that she didn't really care about love as far as guys go. Maybe she was concerned for Honey.

Again, her character was very lax and carefree. That single event wouldn't keep her interest after it was already resolved. Maybe she just realized what everyone else was doing. That fit her character, but it didn't explain why she was still interested.

Then I noticed something important. Candi was paying attention before Honey started to tear up. Then it had to be a result of the girls coming. Then why did that catch her interest?

That's when the connection was made in my head

Kyouya's POV

Candi's and Haruhi's behavior changed, and I quickly finished the notes on the two random teenage girls that had joined our party. Candi was suddenly very interested in the volleyball game, while Haruhi held a steady gaze towards Candi, probably trying to figure out Candi's behavior as well.

"Bye guys!" the girls said, now walking off of the beach. "Awesome game!"

"Bye!"

I hadn't noticed that the two random girls were leaving. When they were out of earshot, I focused again on Haruhi and Candi.

"Candi, are you gay?" Haruhi asked.

The twins muffled snorts of laughter. I, however, quietly awaited an answer. That hypothesis would explain her behavior, and the answer would definitely be informative. I intensely watched Candi's behavior and response.

Candi's eyes were closed. "Hmm?" she said, turning her head towards Haruhi. "Oh. Yea, I am."

_Gay_

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	3. Chapter 3: Do I Has That?

Chapter 3: Do I has that?

Candi's POV

I sighed, collapsing into bed. These guys made quite a few big deals out of nothing.

Tamaki was hyper, and wanted me to come on this trip. I had no problem with that.

Honey almost started to cry when Kyouya pointed out something contradicting his earlier statement. I helped Honey feel better, because he wasn't a very emotionally stable being. I'd rather not have to deal with a crying child.

Mori did… well, nothing.

Hikaru and Kaoru were shocked stupid when I asked if Haruhi was a girl. They should have been more careful if that was the case.

Kyouya observed everything about me. I wonder what I would find if I hacked into his Chameleon. However, I should save that pleasantry until later.

Everyone made a big deal out of me being gay. It's funny, because when I once looked at the website of the host club, I saw they encouraged twincest. Gay twincest, nonetheless.

I smiled though. I wouldn't have to deal with these guys hitting on me at all. They wouldn't become romantically interested in me in the slightest. This will be so much less trouble than my last school.

At Lobelia, someone found out that I was bi, and they told everyone. I had no problem with that, since it's true, but I did have a problem with everyone who was trying to get me to go out with them.

But I wonder what this new life will be like. These people only know half of it.

"Candi! Wake up!" someone said, jumping on my bed. I groaned. What idiot decided to wake me up? Probably Tamaki.

"What time is it?" I mumbled loudly.

"Noon" said a cool voice at the doorway. Kyouya. I sighed.

"Is there food?"

"You won't get any in bed" Kyouya said. I furrowed my eyebrows. What were we talking about? Not remembering the topic, the statement seriously needed some context. I wanted food though. Maybe that's what we were talking about. That seriously helped the sentence make sense.

"What kind of food is it?" I sighed, sitting up in bed. Tamaki yelped, backing up from my bed. I lazily glanced up at him. "What?"

"Put some clothes on!" Tamaki said, covering his and Kyouya's eyes. Kyouya irritably pushed away Tamaki's hand as he continued to type away on his Chameleon. I know exactly how to hack into that thing and know all his secrets….

"I'm wearing underclothes" I said while yawning. My bright orange sports bra and my red girl boxers was more than what I wear for a swimsuit. I seriously don't see the problem. I stretched my arms.

"It's not lady-like!" Tamaki shouted again, walking away. I smiled. Kyouya was still at the doorway, his eyebrows furrowed at his Chameleon. I stood up and walked by him.

"You went to Lobelia?" he asked.

"Mm… yea" I said, still walking. He looked up surprised at my response. What did he expect: me to deny it? To get upset? Did he think me a child?

My mouth watered at the smell of German pancakes. Tamaki's cooks certainly knew how to please. They'd better have syrup. Maple, not anything else. I wonder if it's still fresh.

"Candi" Kyouya's voice said again. I looked over my shoulder at him. "Your kind is new to the world of business. You walk a fine line."

I smiled. "What does 'kind' mean in this context? I'm a lot of things."

I kept walking, and waved to the twins. "Yo" I said, sitting down in a chair, getting some bacon on my plate immediately. Either you like bacon, or you're wrong.

"Hey" they said. I didn't question why they didn't react to my apparent lack of clothes. Tamaki was kind of a weirdo.

"Candi-chan!" Honey said, flying at me. However, my brain was too slow to think to catch him. Honey was surprisingly heavy when flying, so I fell to the ground. He was on top of me, grinning. "I woke up early today, so I had time to try to find the FunFetti cake you were talking about! I couldn't find it, so you and I need to look for it together!"

"Okay" I said, yawning. I stood up, ignoring the complaints my muscles gave of lifting up Honey at the same time. My stomach was going to eat me if I didn't get food soon. I started chewing on a piece of sausage while I got my German Pancakes ready.

"That's a lot of syrup, Candi" Hikaru noted.

"I'm Canadian" I said, shrugging. I grabbed the powdered sugar putting a little extra on top. These cooks were smart enough to put butter and powdered sugar on the general dish. I just like mine with a little extra sugar.

"Hey Haruhi" I said when she walked in. Tamaki tensed. He probably thought I would start flirting with Haruhi. As if. Tamaki knew nothing about me.

"Hey Candi" she replied, sitting next to me. Mori was on my other side. He tapped my shoulder. I looked over at him. He pointed to the syrup. I passed it to him, not even wondering why he didn't use words. If he didn't talk, then he didn't talk. Not my problem.

I quietly thought while others had conversations. Tamaki and Honey were insane. Hikaru and Kaoru kept joking around. Haruhi and Kyouya were reasonable and didn't really take part a lot in the conversation. Mori was quiet.

"You don't understand, Kyouya!" Tamaki yelled. "Candi will not enjoy going to the beach at all! We did that yesterday!"

"Oh, that sounds good" I said, shrugging. I heard 'going to the beach' and decided to say that was something I'd like to do today.

"Seems your wrong about that, Tono" Hikaru and Kaoru said together, grinning. I saw him teleport to the corner, where he somehow acquired mushroom-growing materials. I smiled at the thought of him burning them and sniffing the smoke. He had the uncontrollable mood swings of a drug addict. That would explain a lot.

"Tamaki, I know this is your own house, but most people would think you were doing drugs" I calmly noted. He switched corner, and instead had a dark cloud over him, mumbling to himself. I shrugged. It was cool with me if he wanted to be weirder.

"Kyouya, your face has looked like that for the past hour. What's wrong?" Hikaru asked, standing over him with Kaoru.

"Nothing" Kyouya said, putting his Chameleon away in his pocket. "Just a matter of business."

"Can we go look for cake now?" Honey asked, suddenly hugging my neck. I shrugged.

"Sure."

I don't know, or care, why everyone minus Haruhi ended up coming on the quest to find the FunFetti cake. Tamaki shouted something about family bonding, Kyouya muttered something about investigation, Mori forever watching Honey, the twins whispering about something that involved fun- might have something to do with it. Haruhi said she needed to study for missing a day of school. She had glared at Tamaki when she mentioned that.

"Where did you find the FunFetti cake in Canada?" Honey asked, looking up at me.

"The store" I said bluntly, shrugging.

"What kind of store?" Tamaki asked, now interested in the topic.

"Albertson's. None here, though."

"Let's try the international market" Tamaki said, dashing off. I shrugged, following him. There was no harm in following a crazy man.

"I wonder if we'll find some other kinds as well…" Honey muttered. I looked over at Kyouya, who had that same look stuck on his face for 2 hours now. I wonder what's going on in his head. Even though I knew exactly how to find out, I didn't feel any need to. If he wanted to keep it secret, then it wasn't my problem.

"Candi?" the twins asked together. I looked over.

"Yea?"

"What are you the most scared of?" they asked together. I shrugged.

"How am I supposed to know? If I'm that scared of it, there's no way I'll know." Images flashed in my head, but I forced them out. I knew my fear, but saying it out loud would never let me calm down for quite a while. People would notice.

When I focused again on the moment, everyone was talking to each other. Well, Kyouya seemed distracted. Either something was on his mind, a likely option, or he didn't care. I'm guessing both. I wonder what everyone was talking about.

I shrugged, and walked on. I stared at the window of a bakery. They looked like they sold mostly French stuff- not likely to have FunFetti.

I felt a tug on my sleeve. Honey was looking at me with big eyes. "Candi, will you come with me into the store. I think I want cake now."

I shrugged. "Sure, you silly impatient boy."

Honey happily led the way, and he watched me while I ordered my cake from the lady behind the counter. Double fudge chocolate with dark chocolate frostine. HEAVEN. Honey ordered 5 whole cakes, 2 chocolate, 2 vanilla and one strawberry. My eyes had widened at that request. I smiled. No one expected Honey to eat that much, but I was going to lose my eyeballs watching Honey gobble it down.

Tamaki's POV

We were all trying to figure out Candi's greatest fear. It seems as though she wasn't going to budge, though. I wanted her to trust us with this knowledge, since she was such a nice person. However, trying to figure this out would be quite the adventure. I doubt that she'll reveal her fear to Kyouya, since he scares everyone. Mori is out because he is quiet, and it is usually hard for people to connect with him. Honey may be older than all of us, but he was so child-like that Candi wouldn't trust him with the knowledge of her deepest, darkest secret. The twins were so immature, the same applies for them.

I grinned. I was sure to win.

Honey's methods to find out were confusing me, though. His first action upon being presented the challenge was to walk into the bakery. After he ordered his cake with Candi, I let her sit down on her own while I pulled Honey away to the side.

"What was that?!" I whisper-shouted.

"I wanted to see if she was afraid of cake" Honey said, smiling. "It would be bad if she was. I needed to find out."

I huffed in exasperation. "Honey, no one could ever be afraid of cake!"

"I needed to make sure. But don't worry. I see she's the kind who loves chocolate." Honey looked at me, as if expecting a reaction.

"What?"

"That's says a lot about her personality!" Honey exclaimed, indignant. I grinned.

"Good work Honey. She obviously like the kinds of guys who are…" I turned around and walked out of the bakery to the others, my soul floating out of my body. I had just remembered that Candi was gay. I know I love girls, but they're princesses to me. I understand why a man would be attracted to princesses, but I can't see a girl looking at other girls the same way. Princesses need Princes, and that was me. No. I was a KING. Princesses needed a king so they could be a queen.

My soul returned when I remembered about my identity as the Host Club King. I needed to be strong. This princess was different from the rest, and would never fall in love with a prince or even a King, but that didn't mean that she couldn't be around us.

"We need to find out!" I exclaimed to the rest of the group. Half of them rolled their eyes, but leaned in to talk.

"We call arachnophobia" the twins said together.

"Takashi will take care of the fear of the dark" Honey volunteered. "I want to do dogs."

If only I brought Antoinette. "I call heights."

Kyouya sighed. "Do I really have to do this?"

"Yes" I replied promptly.

"Claustrophobia."

"Alrighty. Break!" I yelled running away to find the perfect place.

Candi's POV

"Dude, that has to be the coolest thing ever" I said, a tarantula crawling on my hand. I just hoped it didn't bite.

"Mori? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were aiming to take advantage of this situation." Mori turned the light back on, and I saw a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Who's a good doggy" I said, scratching and rolling around with the dog Honey had with him. The dog licked my face.

"Nice view" I said to the Tamaki who had just started sulking in his corner.

"Kyouya, where are you taking me?" I asked. He asked to speak with me privately. I didn't mind, so I went with him. But he led me out the door.

"Somewhere" he said vaguely. I shrugged. Whatever. As long as I didn't die.

"Please step in here" Kyouya said, gesturing to a small but brightly lit room. I walked in, and realized that it was much smaller than I thought. In fact, I barely had room to stretch out my arm. I turned around, and the door closed behind me. What the?

I shrugged, and sat down on the floor, leaning against the closed door behind me. "What the crap, Kyouya?"

"Tamaki says I need to" Kyouya said through the door.

I smiled. "Weirdo. Why?"

"Something about your greatest fear. I don't really understand why we need to know that, but I'd rather not defy the insane one."

I laughed. "Smart plan." However, the one fear I did have brought back memories. I shuddered.

Kyouya's POV

I leaned against the wall next to the door. I needed to be sure that this wasn't Candi's fear, since Tamaki would never leave me alone if I did not thoroughly test this.

"Are you afraid of anything?" I asked Candi, interested. She didn't even shake at a giant, fuzzy spider walking across her arm. Nor did she react to the 30-story building that she leaned over the edge without a bar.

"Yea. I'm human too. Now you have to tell me if you are afraid of anything."

I smiled. "You offered that information of your own free will. Your information was more a gift than a deal."

She laughed. I wondered what her face looked like right now. "Got a point there. I should note that for the future."

"What is your fear?" I asked, still interested in this topic.

"Why?"

"Tamaki will never quit until he knows, and I'm somewhat interested." More like a lot interested. I might actually be able to use this fear to my advantage.

"That's a pretty good reason. Will you let me out of this closet? I've got nothing against being locked in closets, but I do when the temperature rises to 5000 degrees."

"Alright."

"My fear is of a person."

I sighed. If she didn't want to tell me, then I couldn't force the information out of her.

I opened the door, and she fell backwards onto my feet. Seems she was leaning on the door, and fell back when that support was suddenly gone. Her warm head was on my feet, and she glanced up at me. It was hard to look at her, since her eyes were so… deep. There was something about her turquoise eyes. Like she knew things that I couldn't even begin to comprehend. It was disturbing. Instead, I looked at her hair. The long auburn hair was close enough she would think I was looking at her.

"Thanks man" she said casually. My eyes flicked back to hers, and the deep look in them was gone. It was replaced by a bored look. I would have to document what I've just learned about her. I might be able to piece things together later. However, I don't think that look in her eyes was going to leave my mind soon.

"So what's got you all eyebrow-furrowed today?" Candi asked, getting up and looking at me.

I sighed. I didn't want to think about the arranged marriage that my father just told me about.

"Nothing."

"It's never nothing."

Hikaru's POV

Kyouya came back with Candi walking behind him. It seemed like they were both thinking, so I refrained from teasing them about their common absence. I glanced at Kaoru, who seemed to think the same thing.

"Anything else to do here?" Haruhi asked irritably.

"Have you already been to the library?" Kyouya asked, typing something in his Chameleon.

"There's a library here? I need a brochure of this house" Haruhi muttered.

"Down the hall, 7th door on the right!" Tamaki announced. "I'll show you the way!"

"No" Haruhi said bluntly, walking out of the living room. I laughed at Tamaki's sudden disappearance and reappearance in the corner. I looked over at Candi, and she was asleep. How she managed to do that sitting up, I don't know.

"Kaoru?" I murmured, my eyebrows raised. We grinned in unison, and pulled Sharpies from our pockets. Within seconds, we were drawing away at her face. She must be a deep sleeper, because we got a lot of drawing on her face without her even stirring.

We stepped back to admire our work. She had the French goatee, a curly mustache, one eye with a monocle and the other with clown makeup, Joker-style smile marks, a heart on the center of her lips and the sign for love on one of her cheeks. We high-fived each other, and Candi sighed. Then she yawned, then her turquoise eyes drifted to us.

We held up a mirror, and awaited her reaction.

"Hm… I'll go wash it off" she said, completely bored.

"WHAT?!" Kaoru and I said loudly as soon as she walked out the door. We turned to Kyouya. "WHY?!"

Kyouya shrugged. "Some people are mature enough to not freak out when you draw on their faces."

"BUT EVEN YOU AREN'T!" we said together loudly. A vein popped in his forehead. His demonic aura made us back away, and we sat down on the couch. What should I do now?

"Swimming pool!" Kaoru and I shouted together.

"Yay!" Tamaki and Honey said together.

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4: Guilty Pleasure

Chapter 4: Guilty Pleasure

Candi's POV

When I didn't see anyone in the living room, I shrugged. I didn't really feel the need to look for anyone after scrubbing at my face for 10 minutes. I got the black marks off, but my skin was bright red and stung as a result. I dragged my feet towards my room, and I shoved my door open.

"Candi" said a dark voice. I opened my dropping eyes, and Kyouya stood there, lacking a shirt. He was just in his dark jeans, and he looked pretty hot, honestly. If only he wasn't glaring at me.

"What are you doing in my room without a shirt?" I muttered. I didn't bother to pick up my feet as I walked to my bed.

"What are you talking about? This is MY ROOM."

"Jeez. Chill" I said while yawning. I could feel the sleep tugging at my consciousness. I laid down on my bed and gave into the freedom.

Except all too quickly, it wasn't freedom.

Kyouya's POV

I sighed when I returned to my room. Candi was still there, sleeping on my bed. I swear, she was conscious one second and asleep the next. I picked up my Chameleon and sat down on the comfortable chair in my room.

'We have a competitor in the business world who would like to join forces with us. The Poen Company and the Ootouri Group have created an engagement between you and Kiri Poen to settle the matter. We expect the wedding to happen at the end of your first year of college.'

My Father sent me that email this morning, and I am still baffled by it. Of course, I had replied, agreeing to the proposition. Well, it wasn't really a proposition. It was more a command. One that would change my life forever.

I looked over at Candi. She had asked what was bothering me, and wasn't convinced by the classic reply of 'I'm fine'. She was either more blunt than Haruhi, or she could see through any sort of façade and straight to the true emotions behind the words of people. Or maybe both.

I remembered our conversation earlier today. 'My fear is of a person.' Who was she afraid of? I could either use this person to my advantage and gain leverage over Candi or I could use this information to blackmail her. Still, she did nothing to me, so I didn't have any sort of reason to do that yet. Other than barging into my room and falling asleep on my bed, of course.

For some reason, I actually didn't mind her company. She didn't demand attention like the rest of Host Club did, and she wasn't romantically pursuing me. Nor would she ever romantically pursue me. I still had a hard time believing the fact that Candi, someone with a very high social status and an even larger amount of power, would be gay.

Anyways, she still was asleep on my bed, and it was getting late. I looked at the time in the corner of my screen, and was surprised to find that it was already 11 pm.

Sighing, I looked back up at my bed. Candi only occupied a small fraction of the large, King sized bed. She was curled up on one side, not even using any of the large blankets. I suppose I could just use the other ¾ of the bed, but I don't even want to think about what Tamaki would say if he found me in the same bed as Candi. There would be no end of the teasing from the twins. Honey would innocently ask me awkward questions. Mori and Haruhi would just… well, wonder in their heads why I did that.

I changed into my flannel pajama bottoms, and didn't even bother with a shirt. If Candi saw me, then that wouldn't be a problem. She was gay.

I was about to get into my bed when an idea struck me. What if I just went into her room and slept in her bed?

When I examined her room, I noticed everything was green. Some things were the same shades as grass. Others the shade of vomit. When that idea struck me, I decided I couldn't sleep in her room. So I trudged back to my room, and sat down again in my chair. I rested my head against the wall, and must have drifted off to sleep, because I felt free and relaxed.

My neck hurt. A lot. I looked at the clock, since it was still dark out. 4 am. I sighed. I must have fallen asleep in my chair. I dragged myself to my bed, and sighed in the warmth of the blankets. I must have been really cold, because it was warm as soon as I got in. For some reason, I think I heard the words 'Help' and 'Door', but I must be thinking them in my head. I didn't care, and I wanted to sleep.

Candi's POV

My eyes shot open. I couldn't remember my dream, but I knew exactly what it was about. The pain was too great, and it really didn't help that there was someone else in my bed.

Resisting tears, I crawled out of bed, hoping to not wake whoever it was. I didn't want them to attack me after realizing I was awake. This wasn't my room. I slowly walked out, hoping that none of the floorboards would creak, and the doorknob wouldn't be too loud.

"_Where are you going, Candi?"_ a voice in my head asked me. I was almost through the doorway. Please don't let her to have woken up now.

No. No. No. She was gone. Long gone. I quickly closed the door behind me, and I dashed off to my room. It was difficult to not close the door without slamming it. I leaned back against the door, but slid to the ground as my mind began to crumble.

'_No' _I told myself. Crying was useless. I just need to sleep. I need to listen to reason.

Kyouya's POV

I woke up on my own today, thank goodness. I sighed at the prospect of leaving today, though. I did like this vacation, even if it's just a little bit. I learned a lot about Candi, and that was very beneficial. I wonder what I could do with the information I've received, though. I don't think blackmailing her about the fact that she's gay would work. She is not the type to care if that information gets out. I don't know the details of her fear, and I couldn't afford to assume things when I don't know a lot about her.

I sighed. At least I was working. Even if I couldn't do anything with the information I had, I still knew a few things about her. I got up out of bed so I could stretch.

"Hey Kyouya" said a voice. Candi walked into my room casually, and sat down in my comfy chair. I sat on the covers of my bed. "Sorry for crashing here yesterday."

Ah. So that would explain why my bed was so warm last night. Well this is awkward. "It's alright. You must have been very tired. Are you feeling better now?"

She smiled. "You don't have to don your mask when you're with me. I don't care about it."

I laughed. She saw right through me in 3 sentences and a new record time of 9 seconds. How on earth was she able to see into my inner conscious, where my true thoughts weren't even voiced? Is my act starting to fall apart? "You're very frustrating."

"I've been told that many a time."

"Just how many secrets are you keeping from the world?"

"1. And all that relate to it."

I chuckled. "Must be a big secret."

I heard her tone turn sad. "Yea. It is."

The conversation went silent, but it wasn't awkward. I didn't feel the need to say anything. Strange. Normally, I'm either trying to get information out of someone or I'm too busy working to really pay attention to what they're saying. Or I'm alone. But with Candi, I didn't even really need try. She was such a laid-back person that conversation wasn't awkward even for a second.

Well, except when you're talking about sleeping in the same bed as someone.

"Hey, why do you bother with the Host Club? Other than for the connections you establish along the way, of course."

"I just do. I get some sort of happiness sometimes, but it's definitely not because of the girls."

"Lol."

I was confused for a second. "Did you just spell out the acronym for 'laugh out loud'?"

Candi burst into hysterical laughter. "Did I? Holy crap, I sound like an airhead!" I smiled along with her. Why was I smiling though? I didn't care. I liked this sort of relaxation.

Kaoru's POV

I furrowed my eyebrows as I walked in the hall. I had just finished showering, so I had a towel drying my hair as I walked, and I almost missed Candi walking into Kyouya's room. She knows he has THE blood type, right? Well, she was going to learn that soon enough.

Another thing that got me thinking was: Why is she going into Kyouya's room? And missing a shirt? She was wearing just a bright green sports bra and a pair of incredibly short shorts, and that was very suggestive. Then again, this was Candi we were talking about. She probably was too lazy to put on clothes this morning. I chuckled, wondering about Kyouya's reaction to the clothes. I dealt with models a lot, and I didn't ever notice half-naked girls anymore. Kyouya on the other hand… well, he might have it handled. He was such a strict person that he would remain professional even though she wasn't.

Candi's POV

"What's up with the lack of clothes?" Kyouya asked me. I raised my eyebrows.

"Is the color distracting? You aren't much better." Kyouya was simply wearing flannel pajama bottoms. He didn't have a shirt on, so he was technically half-naked as well.

"You've got a point" he noted. "But still."

"Too lazy this morning" I said, shrugging.

"How are you too lazy to put on clothes?" he asked, confused.

"Doesn't it take effort to do so?" I asked in response.

"You sound like a politician, answering my question with a question."

I laughed. After I was done laughing, I sighed. I felt my mind slip towards sleep. I lolled my head back and closed my eyes, and black took over my mind.

Kyouya's POV

Seriously? I mean… really?! She just fell asleep! In my room! Again! Was she narcoleptic or something?!

I sighed, but wondered what I should do now. I needed to shower before everyone else was up. It was already 8, and I'm surprised Tamaki wasn't already dancing through the halls so everyone would wake up. I'm always grumpy when I first wake up. Come to think of it, I wasn't a demon when I woke up and Candi came in. This got my eyebrows to furrow in thought.

She was such a relaxed person that conversation with her just felt calm. Most people cower when I'm talking to them, except in the case of Tamaki. He was too stupid to care, and even stupider for acting like an idiot when I did scare him. Honestly, how did he… never mind.

I sighed again. My thoughts were beginning to consume me. I needed to work. I've already finished my homework, but that meant ample opportunity to check the stock market to see if there was anything new. I stood up, but then wondered where my Chameleon was. I hate it when I don't know where it is. I saw it on the coffee table, right next to where Candi put up her feet. If she had wrecked my Chameleon, I would have killed her. I'm not joking by a whole lot.

I looked at Candi's sleeping face. You'd expect me to think that she was cute and all that, because her face was peaceful or something like that.

But no. Her mouth was hanging slightly open, and she was snoring. Quietly, albeit, but she was snoring. I sat down on the coffee table to study at her face. You rarely see people willingly fall asleep in front of others, especially in the world I live in.

I could see a bit of white teeth behind her upper lip. Her cheeks were pale, which made sense because she wasn't Japanese. I noticed light freckles on her cheeks. Upon further inspection, I found that there were light freckles on her forehead, shoulders and arms. I wonder how she got them. Freckles were a wonder to me, since I've never had them.

I looked again at her face, taking in every detail. Her skin was flawless: perfectly smooth, not a hint of acne, and I don't even think she was wearing make-up. I'm not surprised though: if Candi was too lazy to dress in anything more than her bra and short-shorts, then she wouldn't even consider putting on make-up. I wonder if she even did anything to her hair. The elbow-length auburn hair was a close shade to Hikaru and Kaoru's. Hers was just a little bit redder. Her hair was mostly straight, but at the last few inches of each lock, the hair naturally curled in just the slightest.

I could smell a faint hint of some sort of conditioner that she must use. She wouldn't put on any sort of perfumes. Deodorant couldn't smell that good. Even though the smell was strange, it did smell really good. I was going to have to find it. Maybe if I just snuck into her bathroom and checked on the conditioner bottle for a millisecond, then that would make my life a lot easier.

What? I blinked in surprise. Then I shook my head. Did I really just get the idea that I should go find out what conditioner she used? And why was I observing her anyways? I never do this weird sort of thing to people, so why her?

I opened my eyes, deciding to get up, but I snuck a glance at Candi. She was stirring. Shoot. What should I do now? I hadn't moved yet, but maybe if I didn't then she would go back to sleep. This is what I get for being weird, even for a moment.

Candi's eyes shot open, and the turquoise color caught me off guard. They were wide with fear. Her eyes were unfocused, like there was a layer of glass on top of them. Then her eyes focused on me. It was like that glass on top of her eyes broke, and the raw fear in her soul hit me like I ran into a wall. Her eyes could express her own emotions so powerfully that it literally knocked the breath out of me. After a second, I realized that might have been from Candi launching herself forward and hugging me tightly.

The force she used to hug me knocked me backwards. Candi was now on top of me, but she was too busy crushing my ribcage and burying her head into my chest to notice. I would never have guessed in a million years that Candi had that much upper body strength. It felt weird, since my back was cold against the glass of the coffee table, but Candi was warm.

I wasn't sure what to do, however. Candi was shaking softly as she hugged me, so I could guess that she was scared. But of what? It's possible that she had some sort of dream about that person who scares her. I decided that it would just be best to hug her back. I wonder how awkward I was in placing my arms around her bare back. However, her shaking reduced dramatically. After a minute, I relaxed my arms, as they were starting to ache in their tense position.

After a few minutes, she stopped shaking entirely, and I heard quiet snoring. I sighed. Now what was I supposed to do?! If I stay like this, then someone will notice one or both of our absences, and then upon investigation would notice that Candi was on top of me and we were both half-naked. On the other hand, if I move, then Candi might wake up. For some reason, I felt like it was important she stay asleep.

Maybe it was because the fear that I glimpsed for a second terrified me, and I didn't want to see that expression again.

Maybe it was because I was still trying to figure out what kinds of emotions resulted in being this close to her.

Or maybe it was because it would be a lot of effort to get to sleep again.

* * *

**It's official. You are literate. Congratulations. I thank you for being smarter than Patrick from SpongeBob (which I don't own). I want smart people to like my story, because it makes me feel just a little bit smarter! **

**No sarcasm: I love you guys, and thank you for reading my story up to this point!**


	5. Chapter 5: Those Awkward Moments

Chapter 5: Those Awkward Moments….

Kyouya's POV

I sighed. Candi was still gripping me tightly while on top of me. In case you didn't read the last chapter guys, there is nothing going on. I wonder if I should move her. She was asleep, and I had no clue what to do. I was afraid of even taking my arms away from the hug that had comforted her before she fell asleep.

I shifted my legs a little bit, and felt one of her legs in between mine. I blushed a little bit at that. We were in such a messed up position right now. But why did I… I'm not sure what the word is. I guess I liked this position, but that sounded a little more perverted than what I was going for.

Still, that's kind of describes the feeling I was getting from this. I felt like I wasn't alone in the world. Candi didn't care about my status, or whatever façade I could possibly come up with. She was depending on me. It was almost as if I was trustworthy. Most avoid me, let alone trust me with their painful moments. Candi trusted me after knowing me for about 3 days. Either she trusts easily, or I was something special to her. But what was I to her, really? At the very least, I was a friend. She didn't ask anything of me, except that I am my honest self. I wasn't a romantic possibility for a boyfriend, since she was gay. It was nice, to be friends with someone who I could be myself around and not worry about the possibility of falling in love.

Candi started, and her eyes shot open. She looked up at me, and I expected the fear I saw earlier to be there again. However, her eyes were just… awake. And bored.

"When did this happen?" she asked me, somewhat confused. I sighed. She must not have remembered waking up and launching herself into me.

"You're the one who did it" I said back. She sighed, and put her chin on my chest.

"Sorry. Me when I'm tired and me when I'm awake are two completely different people."

"How about you get off, then?" I asked. She shook her head.

"I don't know why but I feel… safe. Please just give me a minute" she said. There was an unexpected peace in her voice. I sighed.

"45 seconds" I said. She chuckled.

"Fine."

Time ticked by, and I wondered what it was about me that made her feel safe. Candi herself didn't know, so I guess I might never know.

"Time's up" I said. She sighed, and slowly stood up.

"You meanie" she said, her arms crossed.

"You need to stop being so aggressive" I said, sitting up. My back was cold, but my front was even colder. It was probably from missing Candi's warmth on me.

"Thanks" she said, ruffling my hair. I looked up, and saw her smiling. I couldn't help but to smile back. Now that I think about it, Candi rarely ever smiles. Why is that?

"Heyya Kyouya" Candi said, sitting next to me at lunch time.

"Hello" I replied, continuing to do the weekend's homework. I had gotten used to Candi's strange attachment to me. She would always stop by before class to say hi, and she even stopped by the Host Club to say goodbye. Her sitting next to me at lunch was a common occurrence.

"Hey Candi" a snotty female voice said behind me. Even though they were addressing Candi, I looked behind me to see what was going to happen. There was standing Honiko Kawaguchi. She had a couple girls standing behind her, but she spoke before I could identify them.

"Stay away from Kyouya-sama" Honiko said. "He doesn't want you to keep trailing behind him like a little btch."

"You know I'm gay, right?" Candi asked in reply. Honiko's surprise was almost comical. Like, I almost laughed at her face, she was so surprised.

"What?"

"Gay."

"You're lying."

"Nope."

"Don't mess with me, btch!"

She turned back towards her food, and took a small bite of her plate of her dumplings. I was surprised she was completely unfazed by the insult that girl just threw at her. It took an impressive amount of class to not be bothered by an insult such as this.

"Are you listening to me!" she said loudly. Honiko grabbed Candi's face from behind, tilting her head backwards so that she was forced to make eye contact.

They stayed in that position for a few moments. Everyone was silent and watching closely. Then Honiko suddenly shivered, and stumbled back a few feet. "What did you do?!" Her voice was sharp and even more annoying in contrast to the silence of the cafeteria.

"Absolutely nothing" Candi said in a bored voice, returning to her food. "It would be wise for you to stop bothering me, before you and your family begin to suffer."

She paled, and stumbled away.

"What did you do?" I asked her, interested. I didn't see anything happen, so I wondered what made Honiko walk away.

"I thought of evil things" she said vaguely. I nodded. Candi was easy to read when she was feeling emotions. The reason why they're so pronounced in her eyes was because of the fact that she doesn't feel emotions a whole lot.

"Kyouya, I just thought of an idea!" Tamaki said, tugging on my sleeve on my other side. I looked at him, ready for something stupid.

"Yes?"

"We could add Candi to the Host Club! Then if there are any gay girls, they can also have someone to be with in the Host Club!"

I raised my eyebrows at this idea. Calculations ran through my head. She did just openly reveal to the audience that she was gay. That meant the entire cafeteria, since everyone had watched. The cost of supporting an entire new section should be outweighed by the benefit. According to a recent reliable article, approximately 10% of the general population was gay. If I apply that general rule to our school, about 60 people should be gay. That meant around 30 female gay people. However, some might not be interested in Candi in particular, so I could predict that about 12-15 people would want to come. That would beat my personal request rate.

"Candi?" I asked the red-head sitting next to me. She nodded.

"Sounds okay" she said, shrugging. I sighed. She didn't care.

"WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!" Tamaki screamed, tackling her in a hug.

"You don't even know my real family" Candi stated. Tamaki's face brightened. I face-palmed. She just gave him an idea.

"I know what the Host Club is doing tomorrow!"

Candi's POV

I was awoken by our maid, Helga. For a second, all I saw was dark brown hair and energetic brown eyes.

"Madam, yer friends are here" she said, poking my face again. "They're in the livin' room, and yer sister is speakin' with 'em."

I sat up straight, knocking away her hand. "How bad is she flirting with them?" I asked, stretching.

"I think yer mum just got there, so not as bad as befur. But ye should get down there, just to be polite."

So it seems I should get up. Finally shifting myself out of bed, I began stretching. Jessica was a year older than me. She graduated from Lobelia last year, a year ahead of time. She claimed that she couldn't stand the school, and she thought it would be impressive to graduate early. She managed to get the credits to graduate that early with honors. Jessica now is attending Tokyo University, taking many honors classes, and again planning to graduate early.

She and I were fairly equal as far as intelligence goes, but she got my dad's hyper energy. She somehow managed to direct that energy towards school instead of chasing squirrels like we used to do when we were younger. I shuddered when I remembered the turning point in my life. I shook my head, however. I couldn't fall apart right now, not with these guys here.

I pushed the button in my private elevator to get to the open floor. Our house had 3 huge floors. The ground floor had the large, open living room. There were one set of staircases on each side of the room that went to a balcony sort of thing. The dining room was under my parent's room, whose door was right in the center of the balcony. The other door to the balcony led to a hall, which had the doors to the game room and the movie room.

Mine and Jessica's rooms were on the top floor. We each got half of that floor, but I didn't really need that much space. I didn't get why the house needed to be so large, along with the even larger yard. There was even a mini-forest in our yard. I sighed. I decided to sit against the mini-wall on the balcony, and listened to the conversation. Everyone had been laughing at something.

"Oh, that's good" the twins said together, still laughing. "Especially since she's gay."

"What?!" my dad and Jessica screamed together. Then they started laughing with my mom who was already doing so.

"Man, I always told her guys sucked, but I didn't expect her to interpret it like that!" Dad choked.

"No wonder she would never go out with any of my friends I tried to set her up with!" I could imagine my sister saying that. The real reason I turned down the blind dates was because of the fact that I was too lazy to care. The real reason I felt attracted girls also flashed in my head, but I shook it again. Dmmit. It was starting to pop up more and more in my head. Not good.

"That would explain why she's in the Host Club now, I guess" my mom mused.

"That also explain why none of you are dating her" Jessica said, still laughing hysterically. I wondered who she was targeting. Hikaru was obviously taken by Haruhi, though I'm not sure what kind of relationship they'll end up having. Honey had taken interest in a girl I saw named Reiko. Tamaki, Kaoru and Mori were fair game for her. I didn't know about Kyouya, however.

I wondered why I thought that. However, my thoughts continued before I could pursue that particular train of thought.

Kyouya was one of my best friends. No, he was my BEST friend. He was honest with me, and I accepted it. I was weird, strange and often times awkward, and people never stayed around for long, but he accepted it. It was nice to have a friend like that. And he wouldn't get romantically interested in me under any circumstance. He thought I was gay, so he just accepted that fact among the other strange things about me.

But what did I think of him? If Jessica started to pursue him… what would that do to me? Her overly-flirtatious attitude would take from the special kind of relationship he and I had. Come to think of it, anyone he flirted with would take from our relationship. I'm probably not ever going to be interested in anyone, boy or girl, so our friendship wouldn't lessen because of me.

I shook my head, trying to crash the train of thought. But it still continued on.

I could conclude that I didn't want anyone to date Kyouya. But knowing him, he would end up in an arranged marriage with some rich snobby airhead, and have to live the rest of his life having to hide the fact that he hates his wife from everyone. Maybe at that point, I could come and help him get through it. I'd be his best friend. But no. Your best friend was your soulmate. Am I his soulmate or something? Soulmates should end up married, according to the rest of the world.

I sighed. This train was getting annoying. I didn't want to think about the future. I just wanted to sleep.

"So, Tamaki. I hear you're the Host Club king. Does that mean you're the best whore of the club?" Jessica asked. I couldn't help but to chuckle at that. That was the first male that Jessica has directly addressed while I'm here. I'm guessing she's aiming for Tamaki. They would be a good match. They're both incredibly hyper.

I stood up. "Stop flirting with him, Jessica" I said propping my elbows on the top of the balcony.

"Candi! When did you get there?!" my sister screamed. I could see her clearly now. She may have gotten my father's energy, but she looked exactly like my mother. Blonde hair. Tall. A perfect model body. Her sharp, glowing green eyes were actually identical to my father's. I got my mom's eyes, while I looked like a younger, female version of my father. He had the exact same shade of hair as me. My dad was extremely tall, which left me to be the second tallest in the family. He was also skinny, but he muscles. I was naturally more muscular than my sister and my mom, and I was also skinny at the same time. Other than her eyes, the only thing I got from my mother was the energy. Or the lack of energy. I was the laziest out of everyone, but my mom wasn't much better.

My dad was suddenly standing in front of me with his hands on my shoulders. "Why didn't you tell us you were gay?"

"Was it really that important?" I asked in reply.

"Of course it is!" he cried.

"Colby" my mother said in a warning voice. "Leave her alone."

"But Kris!" my dad whined. "This changes a lot of things!"

"No it doesn't!" she yelled in reply.

"So loud" I said, rubbing my head. I walked ahead of my dad to go down the stairs.

"Candi, you're still in your jammies" Jessica said tickling my stomach. I just kept walking. My pajamas were a sports bra and some short shorts or boxers.

"These guys have already seen me in my jammies" I replied, rubbing my eyes.

"Okay. LET'S PLAY TAG!" Jessica said, grabbing Tamaki around the neck and running outside. The twins cheered, and followed her, dragging Haruhi along. Honey followed Jessica as well, and in turn, Mori followed behind. I sighed. Everyone had left. I decided to just sit down outside. Kyouya sighed, and followed behind me. He walked beside me.

"Are you sure you're related to her?" he asked jokingly.

"No" I replied. I smiled, and he laughed. I stopped walking, and my eyes were wide. "What?" he asked, confused.

"You laughed" I said in awe. I think that this is the first time I've seen him make any sort of sound even related to a laugh.

He sighed. "I did. Wonderful observation."

"You should laugh more. It's nice" I said, continuing to walk. I felt a little bit of warmth on my cheeks.

"You okay? Your cheeks are suddenly red" Kyouya asked me with genuine concern. I nodded, and smiled at him.

"I'm always dehydrated when I wake up. It's nothing new" I replied calmly. I didn't want him to realize that I actually just blushed.

"Should I get some water for you or something?" he asked, still concerned.

"You mean ask the maid for water? I can do that myself."

"No, your maid disappeared. I couldn't do that, even if I was intending to" he said, looking around for Helga probably. I sat down in the chair as soon as I got outside, and Kyouya sat across from me.

"Why are you guys here?" I asked.

"Tamaki screamed something about initiating you into the family. But it seems like he got more than he expected" he mused, gesturing towards Tamaki. I looked, and Jessica was tickling him while they were running from Hikaru. Tamaki was laughing, screaming and panicking all at the same time. His face was turning more and more red the more Jessica did it.

"She's planning something. Despite being blonde, she is even more calculating than you. She knows how to get to people in good and bad ways."

"You think so?" Kyouya asked, looking at me. My earlier thoughts returned to me. I saw his dark grey eyes, and I felt my cheeks warm up once more.

"Yea. I'm expecting little blonde babies" I said, smiling.

"Candi, it seems you need water now. Where is your kitchen?" he asked standing up.

I sighed. "If you say so. The door is under the staircase on the right."

He nodded, and left. Crap. I liked our relationship as it was right now. I don't know what romantic feelings would do to it. I prayed that the feelings that were starting to brew within me weren't serious.

Kyouya's POV

I walked to the kitchen and wondered about today. When Candi said she thought my laugh was nice, I had blushed. I hoped she hadn't noticed. Her cheeks had turned red as well, but she had a legitimate reason. I have heard of cases where people's cheeks get flushed when they get dehydrated. Candi must be a person who gets dehydrated more easily than most.

I could tell she really needed that water when her cheeks became flushed again. "But where are the gd dmn cups?" I asked, searching in every cupboard I could find. I finally found one next to the fridge. I also found a pitcher of filtered cold water in the fridge. I quickly poured her a glass, then put the pitcher back in the fridge. I looked, and there wasn't a whole lot of food in the fridge. There were some fresh vegetables and I saw some meat. I wonder what Candi eats on a daily basis.

"Here you are" I said, putting the glass of water on the glass table in front of her. I sat down in my chair and faced her.

"Thanks" she said, smiling. I noticed her cheeks were still flushed. She took a sip and put it down.

"Oh, no you don't" I said, standing up and picking up Candi's glass again. "Drink it" I said as I held it up to her lips. I wonder what it be like to kiss her lips…

I blushed when I realized that I just thought. I shook my head as I felt Candi lift the glass from my hands. Her cheeks were even redder than before. She drank the entire glass without taking a single breath. I sat back down in my chair, and hoped my blush had gone when I looked back at her.

"Since when have you been a doctor?" Candi asked, putting the empty glass back on the table. I laughed.

"You do remember what my family does, right?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No. Some things just slip my mind easily."

I was surprised. Normally, all people can think about is what my family does. "We own a very large medical company."

"Ah" she said, nodding. Candi didn't care about any facades, my family, or my money. All she cared about was me.

I blushed again.

* * *

**Hope this chapter was good enough for you guys, but I know I'm quite an oddball, especially when I'm writing. Anyways, reviews are always welcome, so feel free!**


	6. Chapter 6: Breaking the Surface

Chapter 6: Breaking the Surface

Candi's POV

I went to sleep as soon as the Host Club left. Thankfully, there weren't any dreams awaiting me, especially the ones I expected.

However, my mind fooled me.

_I played a board game with my maid, Helena. She was beautiful. Despite being about 20 years old, she had bright white hair that reached her elbows. She was my favorite maid out of all the ones I've had so far: she actually played with me. My other maids always said I had too much energy for them, let alone my sister, and let alone she and I combined. But this maid could keep up. She would play our pretend games. She would chase squirrels with us. It was the best._

"_So Jessica is at her friend's house today?" Helena asked me. I nodded._

"_She always seems to have a lot of friends" I said matter-of-factly. She smiled._

"_You know, 5-year olds are just the cutest" she said, ruffling my hair. I didn't see her eyes flicker from nostalgia to a more evil look. "Hey, it's time for a bath. I'll go get the water started."_

"_Okay!" I said, following her like a little puppy. She smiled, and her blue eyes sparkled. But for a second, something else flicked in them. I couldn't tell what it was. It had to be some sort of emotion I wasn't familiar with. I skipped from the door to the bath-tub. I loved baths. "Am I going to have a bubble-bath?" _

"_Of course" she said, closing the door. I heard it lock, but I didn't really think it was important. Helena walked over, and turned on the bath for a water, plugging a drain so that the water wouldn't escape. She also poked a hole on a rubber toy filled with a thick pink liquid. She handed me the toy. "Would you like to do the honors?"_

"_Yay!" I said happily, taking the toy and squeezing the bubble-making mixture into the water. When it was gone, Helena threw it in the trash while I took off my skirt. By the time she came back, I was only in my underwear._

"_Candi, do you want to play the quiet game?" Helena said while she took off my underwear. Her fingers tickled the inside of my legs as she pulled the white fabric down._

_The rest was a nightmare. _

_The bathwater was all I heard. _

_I could see white hair._

_I felt horrible. _

"_Don't you dare tell anyone" Helena muttered. My eyes widened at her voice. I have never heard her use a tone that mean. "No one will believe you, and there's nothing you can do to stop me from doing this again."_

"_Okay" I whimpered. My young body hurt in places it shouldn't. _

'_Please! Someone! Just open the door!' I thought desperately._

"_Help!" I managed to scream after working up the courage. My mouth was instantly covered, and my voice wasn't audible over the sound over the bathwater filling up the large tub. Tears spilled out of my eyes. Help, please, someone._

_No one did._

I woke up, and felt a tear trickle down my cheek. I took a deep breath, and hugged my legs to my chest.

"_Don't you dare tell anyone."_

'Don't worry, Helena' I thought with sarcastic obedience. 'No one knows.'

I shuddered at the idea of her smiling evilly at this. A couple more tears fell out. I hated thinking of this. My life changed after that day.

Every single bath-time, the same thing happened. The longer she stayed, the worse it got. Jessica could take baths on her own, so she thankfully never experienced that. Helena was always spending time with me after the first time she did _that_ to me. I began to become quiet. Then I began to lose interest in life. I lost my friends. The energy I used to have was sucked out of me. My smile became rare. Then the rare times I did smile became fake.

A couple months later, when my parents realized that Helena wasn't able to make me smile anymore, she was fired. Still, my smile did not return. I was treated for depression, and after I started medication, I regained a little bit of energy to bury the pain Helena caused. I buried the memories as deep as I could, then double that. I forgot about her, but I couldn't muster up the energy to continue my previous lifestyle.

More tears came from me. This was the first time that the full force of my pain has hit me since I buried it. I stumbled out of bed, trying to find something that would distract me from the painful memories.

I tripped, and landed next to my drawers where I kept various items. I stared at the bottom drawer. This is where I kept my knife, in case I needed it for self-defense. I sat myself up, still staring at the drawer. There was a way to distract myself from the pain.

I opened the drawer, and shuffled through the art supplies to find my switchblade. I flicked it open, and a dark gray blade met my eyes. I held my left forearm face up, the blade shaking in my hand. I was staring at the scene before my eyes, and what I wanted to do. I glimpsed white out of the corner of my eye for a slight second. Thinking of Helena's hair, I slashed down on my skin. The pain shot up my arm, but I forgot about everything.

I took a few deep breaths as the warm, red blood began to collect on the surface of my skin, then drip onto the floor. My heart pulsed, and my cut throbbed at each beat. It was like I received more pain every second. It was piling up, along with the throbbing in my head. It was bliss to be distracted.

I stood up, and walked to the bathroom. The blood began to trail down my fingers and onto the floor. I searched through my medicine cabinet for the first-aid kit, not caring about the blood that splattered everywhere. It was on my bra, my shorts and I felt a few drops fall onto my face as I searched in the higher cabinet.

When I finally found it, I set it on the counter. Blood also found its way onto the counter as I searched for the wraps that would bandage my wound. I set it aside once I found it. Sighing, I turned on the cold water in my large sink. I put my cut under the flowing water. Each second I felt the water flow in and around my cut, I felt the open wound begin to numb. A tear fell from my face, and it stung as it fell in my cut.

The faucet was loud. Memories flashed before my eyes as I related that to my experiences. I froze for a moment, trying to push away the thoughts. Though I succeeded, more tears fell. The water suddenly got colder, which caused my cut to throb more painfully and my arm to go numb. I could see my cut clearly now. It was wide and somewhat deep. I wonder how long it would take to heal. I remembered the Host Club. They would freak out if they realized I was hurt.

However, something in me wanted to do it again. The knife, though it hurt me, gave me a break from the pain. It was utter bliss to forget everything. I had no worries, no fears, and I was able to simply be free in a painful dream.

After I finished washing my wound, I put a gauze over the cut and put the wrap around it. I looked at my clothes. Then my room. The moon revealed many blood spots all over the place. I sighed. I would have to clean this up.

Jessica's POV

I woke up at around 5 today. It was still dark. Even though it was Sunday, I still had too much energy to lie in bed. I jumped up, stretched, and thought about yesterday.

Candi's friends came over. I was surprised she had actually made friends, because ever since out maid Helena left, she had become somewhat of a lonely person. Either way, they came, and I had a lot of fun with them! There was this one boy in particular whose name was Tamaki Suou. He was just as hyperactive as I was, if not more. I had really missed playing like children. I could get away acting like a child with other children, but Candi's friends basically all acted like children, Tamaki in particular. I had the most fun tickling him.

My boredom was gone when I decided to run on my treadmill. I was a marathon runner, so there was no harm in doing some more running. I kept up a jogging pace as I thought about my life.

I was single at the moment. Though some guys caught my interest, Tamaki shined brighter than any I've met in 4 years. Ever since Jackson. I probably wasn't ever going to get over my boyfriend from middle school, but I was still working on it. I had moved from America to Japan at that point. Candi was just about to get into middle school.

Those thoughts weren't exactly happy. Music could distract me. I stepped off the treadmill to grab my iPod. One thing from Lobelia that did affect me was its love of music. However, I became more interested in hip-hop instead of the classical and opera everyone else loved. I could never dance to it though. I quickly put my hair in a pony-tail, since I was in the mood to run.

I got back on the treadmill, and kept up the jogging pace. The beat rang in my ears, helping me stay standing. I breathed in and out, the pace speeding up the longer I ran. When I glanced at my large digital clock, it said that it was now 7 am. I was surprised at the time, so I jumped off, turning off the treadmill. According to the sensor, I just ran 13 miles. That's a half-marathon. I smiled, and walked to the shower. It was nice to get the extra stress out by a good run and a cold shower.

"Hey Daddy!" I said, jumping onto my father's back. I only reached his shoulder, he was so freakishly tall. I was already 5' 10", which is a few inches taller than the average American woman. "Did the chef already cook breakfast?"

"Yea! Will you go wake up your sister?" he asked, smiling. "I'll go get mom."

I laughed. "Have fun with that. She's always a demon when she wakes up."

"Don't think I don't already know that" he said, smiling. "She and I have been married for 19 years already."

I rolled my eyes, and ran up the stairs to Candi's elevator. I pushed the button, and waited for her elevator to come, then was there soon. When the doors pinged and opened, I grinned. "Good morning Candi!" I screamed, dashing to her bed and jumping up and down on it.

"Jessica?" Candi asked, her head popping out of the bathroom. I stopped jumping, a look of surprise on my face.

"You're actually up before noon" I said in surprise. She walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I bolted towards her and gave her a tight hug. "My lil' sis woke up on her own before noon!"

"Yea" she sighed. I dragged her towards her elevator, and lead her all the way to the dining room.

"Candi woke up on her own!" I yelled walking in. Mom and Dad were already there, eating breakfast sandwiches.

"Really?" Mom asked, lacking her usual morning darkness. "I did too."

My jaw dropped. I looked, and my dad was doing the same. Candi casually sat at the table and made her own breakfast sandwich.

"This is a special day" dad and I said together. I sat down, now over my shock and made my sandwich.

"What happened to your arm?" Mom asked, facing Candi. I looked and saw the majority of her forearm covered in a wrap.

"Oh my gd!" I said, my jaw dropping. "What happened?!"

"Indeed Madam" Helga said, bringing another plate of scrambled eggs. "I saw a blood-soaked towel and clothes in yer dirty clothes hamper."

Candi rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "I was playing with my knife late last night when it was dark, and it slipped out of my hand. I bandaged it myself though, so it should be fine."

"Sounds dangerous" I mused. Dad laughed.

"Well, you're fine now. Glad we gave you that first-aid training a couple years ago. It came in handy."

"Yea" she said dully, putting bacon on top of the cheese in her sandwich. I began to talk about Tamaki, and how similar he and I were. Dad was surprised I had taken this much interest in a guy. He joked that he was probably going to be my boyfriend at some point. Conversation went on as normal.

One thing I did notice, however, was that Candi said nothing during the rest of the meal.

Candi's POV

I was glad I could come up with a good excuse like that. For once, I was glad my family was mostly lazy. They didn't pursue any of the holes in my story. For example, why I was playing with my knife late at night and why I didn't turn on any lights.

After plopping onto my bed, I sighed. It was already 5 in the evening, and I was already feeling sleep tug at my mind, begging me to go to fall into what it thought would be peaceful dreams. But I knew what would really await me if I caved in. That memory was not going to go away any time soon. I hated it. Why was that pain resurfacing after so long? I've never had a problem with it before, and it was starting to take over my thoughts.

Bathwater began to run, loud against the silence. That was strange. The wall in between mine and Jessica's rooms was sound-proof, since she listened to loud hip-hop music when I was taking naps. I stood up, and walked to my bathroom. Maybe something knocked the knob of my bathtub.

After glancing in the bathroom, I realized that the bathwater was not running at all. My eyes widened when I could tell why I was hearing it. I was remembering what I was hearing every single time SHE did that.

I shook my head, and backed up. The bathwater sound began more and more high-pitched, almost like the screams I had wanted to release. I collapsed on the floor, but still backed up. I heard a door lock click. Over and over again. I stopped when I reached my opposite wall. I covered my ears, hoping it would stop. I curled up into a ball, wanting to hide from the memories, but it was like I was reliving it again.

_Click _SCREAM _click click click _SCREAM SCREAM

I felt myself shaking. My eyes opened. I remembered yesterday. I knew how to make it stop. My legs barely worked, so I had to crawl to my drawer, where I rummaged around to find it. Meanwhile, I unclipped the wrap, and felt it fall to the ground. Finally finding it, I shook off the gauze. I had the knife in my hand, but I remembered this morning.

Helga had noticed something because of the blood that was all over the place. I quickly racked my brain to figure out a way to prevent this from happening in the future. I NEEDED the relief now. My head ached from the clicks and screams.

Figuring out a solution, I dashed to the bathroom. I locked the door behind me, just in case Jessica came into my room. The clicking sped up.

I stumbled to the bathtub. I felt my cut from yesterday open. It burned, stung and felt like an atomic bomb went off of my arm. However, I welcomed the pain. The screaming stopped, but there was still the occasional click. Gripping my knife, I could see white hair in the corner of my eye. The fear took hold of me, so I was barely able to tell my body to cut down already.

This cut was smaller than the first one, but the clicking still stopped. I stared at my blood which was quickly covering my forearm, my hand and my fingers. I had slashed perpendicular to my cut from yesterday. I wondered how soon these cuts would close up. I've always been a quick healer, as evidenced by the cut from last night that had closed over the course of 16 hours. Since the cuts crossed, they would take both of them longer to heal. If I bandaged them well, then I might not have to worry. But when would I do this again?

I looked down at the bathtub, and the entire bottom of the tub was covered in blood. I turned on the shower, and stripped. I needed to take a shower now, to get the smell of blood out of the bathroom before anyone could figure out what I was just doing.

* * *

**People, please don't cut yourself like Candi is doing right now. Though she finds it as a way to escape pain, this is actually extremely damaging to yourself any everyone around you. You are worth more.**


	7. Chapter 7: Ignorance is Bliss?

Chapter 7: Ignorance is Bliss? 

Kyouya's POV

I sat down at my desk with my open textbook in front of me. I was trying to get a small headstart on today's lesson. However, the block of text held absolutely none of my interest. I kept recalling part of the day I spent at Candi's house.

Candi may have hinted at some sort of medical condition when she told me about her dehydration that happened upon waking up. Her cheeks were definitely flustered, so I was happy to give her water. However, two thoughts kept plaguing my mind all weekend.

Why did I blush at her telling me that my laugh was nice? It wasn't the best of compliments, but she still made me blush.

Something more important, however, was why I had thought about kissing Candi. Color again came to my cheeks at the idea, but I imagine that my face was redder at the time I originally thought it. I wonder if she noticed.

I looked at the clock. It was 15 minutes until class was due to start. Candi was due to visit in 5 minutes. I turned back to my textbook, trying to get as much studying done before I talked with her. I couldn't wait, for reasons I wasn't sure if I wanted to figure out.

"Hey Kyo" Candi said, her arms wrapped around my neck. I immediately felt her chest on the back of my head. I blushed a little bit more. "I'm tired."

"Staying up late will do that to you" I said as calmly as I could manage considering I was starting to get an idea about why I enjoyed her company. I furrowed my eyebrows. I could feel something under the left sleeve of Candi's arm. "What happened to your arm?" I asked, concerned. Did she get hurt?

"It's nothing" she said, removing her arms from my neck and sitting at the empty desk next to mine.

'It's never nothing' I remembered Candi say. This was when we were talking about her fears, and she saw through my mask for the first time. I wasn't sure if I should press for details, since she seemed to not want to give them.

I noticed very prominent dark circles around her eyes. "You really do need to sleep more. Doctor's orders."

She laughed. I smiled with her.

"Can I go over to your house today?" Candi asked me, tilting her head with curiosity. The best word for her appearance right now would be cute. And very much so.

"Yea!" I said, happy at the opportunity to spend time with her. Alone. My blushed returned a little bit when I realized what that last thought was.

"Really? The Low Blood Pressure Demon Lord has nothing to do after Host club?"

"Oh" I said, realizing that I might actually be busy. This was a good excuse to look away from her turquoise eyes as I looked in my calendar. I had been so happy to have her over, that I didn't think that I might be busy. Thankfully, there was nothing going on. "Yea, today works."

"Good" she said, sighing. "It's my first day of Host Club, so I need to spend some time with sane people. You know my family."

I laughed. "Yea, they are kind of insane."

"I'd better go" Candi said, standing up. It was already 5 minutes until class started. How on earth did the time go by so quickly?

"Bye then!" I said, waving.

"Bye!"

Candi's POV

I felt my head throb. I got about 4 hours of sleep last night, since I was too scared to go to sleep. I yawned, and put my head on the desk. It was unbearably uncomfortable, so I couldn't get to sleep. I was thirsty, and my body ached all over. Wasn't this a sign of lacking blood? That would make sense. I probably lost a bunch of blood from my cuts.

Speaking of which, I hadn't cut myself since yesterday evening. I wanted to keep cutting myself, since it was the perfect release from the pain. However, if I got too many cuts, then people would notice. I wore long sleeves to hide the wrap, but Kyouya already could tell something was up with my arm. I sighed again. I needed to be able to keep cutting myself, but I'll loose too much blood if I keep up this pace. On the car on the way here, I decided that if I distance myself from my knife back at home and do something, then I could keep the addiction at bay.

So, asking Kyouya if I could go over to his house was the perfect solution. I don't know why, but I wondered what I really felt about Kyouya. He was my best friend indeed, but I think it was turning into something else. Maybe love. I was the most open with him, so maybe it was just because of that. But he'd never fall in love with me. He knew I was gay, even though I wasn't.

I shook my head. Me and Kyouya? That was insane.

"Candi?" a voice asked as a hand nudged me. I pretended to be asleep. I was too tired to deal with people right now.

"She's asleep, Haruhi. What should we do?" said one of the twins.

"Leave her alone. We'll be back in this classroom after lunch anyways" Haruhi said. I heard her get up.

"You're coming with us to the lunchroom today?" the twins asked, exited.

"Yes. Now, let's leave Candi in peace." Thanks Haruhi. I wanted to speak, to tell her I was grateful for the small amount of protection she was providing me from the twins, but I was supposed to be asleep.

I remained in that position, letting my mind wander to shallow topics. Things like my sister's ex-boyfriend, and I wonder what he was doing now. I also wondered where my first maid was. She was probably still in Canada.

I froze. What is SHE doing now? She couldn't be here. She was my maid in Los Angeles. There was no way she could be all the way here in Japan. I began to hear clicking in my head. I covered my ears, remembering the door locking from all those times. I needed to escape the memories. I squeezed my left arm, hoping I could withstand the pain without cutting myself. However, I felt both wounds reopen. The pain felt like there was acid poured into my veins, and it wouldn't stop. I sighed in relief at the release. I returned to the 'sleeping' position I was in earlier.

I felt a hand placed on my head. I could feel Kyouya's cool ruffle my hair a little bit. His hand was then removed, and I saw him sit across the aisle.

"I was told you were asleep" Kyouya said, taking out his lunch and beginning to eat. I sighed.

"I'm so tired" I pouted.

"Why don't you sleep? You can sleep just about anywhere."

"I can't if I'm not comfortable or lying down."

"Let's see if I can help you there" Kyouya said, standing up. I lazily watched him take a chair and put it in the aisle. He pulled my chair towards him, and my right arm fell off of the desk. I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Give me a minute" Kyouya said in his defense.

He walked around, and sat down in his chair again. I felt him pull my shoulders, and him grip my jaw. I looked at him, and he was holding up a glass of water.

"Drink, then sleep. We've got an hour of lunch today. You could use it."

Well this was an odd thing for Kyouya to do. When I didn't do anything in response, Kyouya sighed. He put the glass up to my lips, and tilted the glass up. I drank every single drop without a breath. Kyouya then sat the glass down. He put an arm around my shoulders, and softly laid me down across the extra chair and put my head on his lap.

"Thanks" I said, sighing at the comfort. Kyouya was about to take his hand away to let me rest, but I saw white hair behind my eyelids. I quickly grabbed his hand, and held it on my shoulder. He chuckled, then began to play with my hair. I felt free, almost like the pain of cuts. I gave into the exhaustion, and black swallowed my consciousness.

And this time, no memories awaited me.

Kyouya's POV

I combed my fingers through her hair, since she seemed to need it. I was okay with doing this, since I remembered her at the beach house. She needed someone with her who could calm her fear. Apparently, I was that person. Her hair was so soft.

The dark circles under her eyes were disappearing right before mine. I was surprised at the fact that after 5 minutes of sleep, the dark purple rings were now extremely light, not much different from everyone else's. She stirred, and I noticed that I had stopped combing my fingers in her hair. I began to stroke her head, and she stopped.

"You know, Candi, you're just the cutest thing" I murmured out loud. I was already blushing, so I didn't really notice it double.

Candi's POV

"Really?" I asked after one look at two couches that were filled with girls.

"Yep. You're the 'Relaxed' type. Get at it" Kyouya said, grinning. I laughed, rolling my eyes, but I walked over to the couches. There was a space made for me in the center of a couch.

"Hello Candi-sempai!" all the girls said together. I scoffed.

"Call me Candi. I hate honorifics."

Half of them blushed, the other half smiled. "Why is that?"

Because Helena never failed to use honorifics when possible. I looked over at Kyouya, whose eyes were observing me. I calmed down when I made eye contact with him. "It's a long painful, sad and inappropriate story. I don't think you ladies need to hear it."

I looked back at the girls, and they gave me sympathetic looks. "I'm sorry" one of them said. I shrugged.

"It's okay. I mean, it's the past."

"Good job for getting over it" another said, smiling. Oh, I'm far from over it.

"Thanks" I said shyly. I was starting to form a mask for these girls, because I didn't want them in my personal life. Since I was acting already, I saw no problem with going a little bit over the top.

I set my head on the shoulder of the girl to my left. "Sorry. I'm just really tired."

"O-o-o-oh, i-i-i-it's-s-s-s n-n-no p-p-p-pr-r-oblem-m-m" the girl stuttered. I smiled, and yawned. Other girls were blushing as well, and I wasn't even acting for them in particular. This was going to be a long club hour.

Kyouya's POV

When Candi looked at me at that moment, I saw a bit of raw pain in her eyes. But it was quickly subsided, and Candi turned back towards the girls. Then it was like a switch turned on, and she was completely playing the 'Relaxed' type role to perfection.

"Good work" I said afterwards in the limo on the ride home. She was in the car with me, sitting quietly.

"I wore a mask" she said. Her tone was so much informative as it was surprised. She looked at me. "How on earth do you manage to keep yours on all the time?"

"I don't so much anymore." I don't bother with it when you're around.

"Still, I could barely stand 1.5 hours."

I shrugged. "You're just lazier."

"Thanks" she said sarcastically. She yawned, and laid down on the long seat.

"Don't go to sleep now. We're almost at my house already."

"Fine" she said, sitting up. She aimed a playful punch at my upper arm. I smiled, and she did too. "You're fault if I turn narcoleptic."

Too bad. You're cute when you're asleep. "You're so lazy."

"Why thank you" Candi said with mock flattery. I laughed, and she smiled. Her turquoise eyes glittered. They were so pretty.

"Candi?" I asked. I don't know where my thoughts were taking me.

"Yea?"

"I'm really glad you're my friend" I said, smiling. Her smile widened, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I wrapped mine around her hips. She buried her head in my shoulder. I felt my smile grow as I did the same.

"I'm even happier" Candi murmured. Her grip on my neck tightened. I felt the thing under her left sleeve again, but I didn't want to ruin the moment.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. It was a beautiful moment where we just appreciated our special kind of friendship. Candi pulled away slightly, her arms still around my neck. She looked right into my eyes. The turquoise color held pure happiness. I think she was almost crying, but her eyes were sparkling either way. Pure beauty. "Now come on. I think we're at your house."

"Really? Wow. Time flies."

She laughed, and sat up. I pulled my bag and followed behind her as she climbed out of the limo. When I stood up, I furrowed my eyebrows. Where did Candi go? She was just ahead of me…

I felt a sudden weight cling onto my back. I saw pale legs wrap around my waist and her arms around my shoulders. Ah. That's where she went. I laughed, and pulled her along with me. I felt happy, even though she was heavier than she looked. "Weirdo" I said.

"Hey" she simply said. I could hear her chuckle. "What about you? You're in the Host Club flirting with girls that you don't even like."

"I just talk to them. Flirting would imply that I like to do so" I said with a smile. She laughed.

"Yea, most girls there are airheads" Candi said. I cringed when I remembered my engagement. Well, I've never seen her before in my life, so it was no wonder I never thought of it.

"Kyo?" Candi asked me. I turned to face her, and my smile returned without me having to try.

"It's nothing" I replied. She furrowed her eyebrows at me.

"It's never nothing" she said. I remembered when she first said that. We were already at my room, and I put my stuff down. There was no one in the house. I sighed.

"Do you really want to know?" I asked. She shrugged, and sat down on my bed.

"Only if you really want to tell me."

I sighed, and laid down on my bed on the other side. Candi switched her position so she was lying down beside me. She looked at me, a look of concern on her face. I gave in to that face. "Do you know the Poen company?" I asked.

"I know their daughter, Kiri. She's the biggest airhead I've ever seen."

I sighed, feeling my smile disappear. "I received news while I was at the beach house that I am now engaged to her."

"I'm sorry man" she said, sitting up and crossing her legs. "Did your Dad even ask if you were okay with that?"

"No" I said, shaking my head. I loosened my tie. I could feel it starting to choke me. Candi leaned away from me, and I was confused for a second. I felt my shoes slip off, and Candi threw one towards the door.

"You're turn" she said, handing me the other one. I laughed in confusion.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, sitting up.

"Throw it at something" she replied as if it was obvious.

"At what?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Like your stairs or something."

I skewed my mouth, but aimed my shoe at the stairs. I threw it, using all the pent-up frustration of my life to hit the top step with my shoe. I took a deep breath and laid down again. That actually worked, even if just a little bit. Candi took off my socks and threw them to the middle of the floor. "You know the maids are going to be confused as to the reason why my socks and shoes are all over the place."

"Well, do you want to pick them up?" Candi asked. She laid down next to me again. "Do you really stay in your uniform, even after club?"

"I'll be right back" I said, walking up the stairs. She chuckled, and closed her eyes. When I was upstairs, I took a look at my closet. What kind of casual wear should I pick? Well, it didn't matter either way. I choose a random black t-shirt and a pair of white basketball shorts. I don't wear casual clothes often, because I usually stay in my uniform until after dinner. I don't think there was any family I needed to dress up for today. I frowned when I remembered them. I needed to wear my mask especially around my father. I liked being around Candi because I didn't need the mask at all.

"Kyo!" I heard Candi yell from downstairs. "I'm coming up there in on the count of 5!"

I hurriedly put on my shorts, and was visible at the top of the stairs by 0. "That's not very polite to the host! I'm getting changed!"

"You were taking forever! I thought men didn't need that much time to decide what to wear!"

I laughed. "You just need to calm down."

"You're shirt is on backwards" she noted when I was halfway down the stairs. I face-palmed.

"You could have told me that before I started going back down the stairs."

"You're glad I'm here" she said nodding and smiling. I rolled my eyes, and sat down on the bed with my back facing her. I took off my shirt, and flipped it around. I looked back, and noticed her cheeks slightly colored. I opened my mouth to ask if she was okay, but she beat me to it. "Dehydration. Is it possible I could get a glass of water from your maids?"

"Yea" I said, putting my shirt back on and walking to the door. I was about to open the door when I fully realized what I just did. I just stripped in front of Candi. A faint color did come to my cheeks, but I shook it away. Candi was gay. That had no affect on her.

Candi's POV

DID HE NOT REALIZE THE AFFECT HE WAS HAVING ON ME!?

**Well… review before Helena comes and gives you nightmares and makes you want to cut yourself! :D (Jk, I still don't want you guys cutting yourselves.)**

**I just want to say thank you to all you guys who have read my story up to this point. I greatly appreciate it! Thanks you again to those who have reviewed my story.**


	8. Chapter 8: Funny Joke, Man

Chapter 8: Funny Joke, Man

Candi's POV

Okay. I'm not stupid. I'm blushing way too much for Kyouya to be just a friend to me. I didn't want our friendship to change. I don't know it if would change for the better or the worse. There was no guarantee he could ever see me like that. He thought I was gay. Should I change that view though? I wanted to, but wouldn't he hate me?

I shook my head, wanting to get rid of the thoughts.

But Kyouya can't just take his shirt off of me and think nothing happened! I blushed in the memory of Kyouya's abs. Not only did he have the perfect slight 6 pack, but he also had the best collarbones! I sighed, and Kyouya walked back into his room. I thought he was just plain skinny before, but it turns out he had sexy muscles!

"Here" he said, putting it in my hand. He ruffled my hair.

"Hey Kyo?" I asked. I had no clue where my thoughts were taking me.

"What's up?" he asked, taking out his stuff for homework and putting them down on his low desk.

"What do you do when you have a crush on someone?" I cursed myself for asking that. Asking in the hypothetical was not going to work with him.

"Can't say I've ever had a crush on anyone" Kyouya sighed, putting his elbows on his desk and knotting his fingers together. "How long have you had a crush on her?"

My eyes widened. It was a painful reminder that he would never think of me like that. He thought I was gay, and would always see me like that. It was too late to change the paradigm he held. I wondered what I should say next. If I say it was a guy, then he would start to question, then start to hate me. If I just went with it, then it would just reinforce the idea that I was gay. Why did I not make the clarification earlier?!

Well, I didn't expect to fall in love with anyone in the Host Club.

"I'm not sure if it's really a crush" I said casually, shrugging. I hoped he didn't see the battle raging within my head. What I said wasn't a lie.

"Get to know her better, and see if you really do have a crush on her or not."

Every single time he referred to my crush as a girl, it was like a small stab in my heart. Kyo, can't you just see that it's you that I want for my own?

"Did you know that I've never kissed a girl?" I laughed, smiling. "I'm kind of in the gray as to whether or not I really care about romance anymore."

"If you need any help whatsoever, then you can go ahead and ask me."

I blushed, thinking of the perfect idea for 'help'. But there was no way I could voice that. He would think it was too strange, and he wouldn't do it, and things would be awkward. I shook my head. Why, oh, why did things have to turn out like this?!

Kyouya's POV

Okay. I'm not stupid. I'm blushing way too much for Candi to be just a friend to me. I didn't want our friendship to change. I don't know if it would change for the better or the worse. There was no guarantee she could ever see me like that. She was gay. Could I change that though? I wanted to, but would that work? Would she hate me?

I shook my head, wanting to get rid of these thoughts.

For now, I would have to be as best a friend as I could be to Candi. She deserved the best.

"What do you do when you have a crush on someone?" Candi asked me. I tried to look thoughtful as an internal battle raged within me. She obviously liked someone. A girl. The reminder that she was gay was like a sudden pang in my heart. The battle was lost before it began. That just felt so unfair to me. But I had to respond to her question somehow. Otherwise, she would notice the battle in my head. But how could I respond? I didn't want to encourage her to pursue anyone, or give her advice to do so. I wanted her all to myself.

"Can't say I've ever had a crush on anyone" I sighed. There. That was just about the perfect response. I remained neutral. "How long have you had a crush on her?

I cursed myself for saying that. My mouth spoke without my approval. It was just another reminder that I would never possibly be of romantic interest to her. I remember earlier on in knowing her that I was glad she wouldn't romantically pursue me. I wonder where we'd be now if that wasn't the case.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure if it's really a crush" she replied calmly. I sighed quietly in relief. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she might not really have a crush on this girl. But I couldn't show it. We were still friends at the moment, and I needed to keep showing it. I needed to give her support.

"Get to know her better, and see if you really have a crush on her or not" I said with uncertainty.

"Did you know I've never kissed a girl?" Candi said laughing. "I'm kind of in the gray as to whether or not I really care about romance anymore."

She didn't care? Did I think that good or bad? "If you need any help whatsoever, then you can go ahead and ask me."

We sighed together. I chuckled. I turned back to my textbook, and began on my homework. I wonder if Candi ever did homework. She didn't ever transport textbooks back and forth. She must be a natural genius. Well, she was the daughter of the creators of the Chameleon.

"Kyo, can I fall asleep in your lap again?" Candi asked. I looked and she was sitting next to me and yawning.

"Go ahead" I said, lifting my arms up so she could easily put her head in my lap. She almost collapsed and was instantly out cold. She must be really tired. Or more lazy than normal. She's already had a nap today.

One hand played with her hair while the other dealt with homework. Though I accurately answered the math questions, my mind still wandered to Candi. Her hair was so soft in my hand. And it was the prettiest color or auburn. The long locks were so beautiful, and the way they curled at the end was almost cute.

I know when I first examined her sleeping face, I didn't think it was cute. I don't know what changed. The soft snoring was adorable, and her face seemed to be peaceful. More peaceful than when I last examined it. I wonder what it was that changed to make it so. I also wondered what nightmare caused her to jump at me that day at the beach house.

I heard a soft ping. I reached into my schoolbag and took out my Chameleon. There was a little icon at the top of the screen for a new email. I automatically went straight to the email, and looked at it. My eyes widened when I realized it was from my father. I gripped Candi's shoulder with nervousness. I tapped on the email to open it, and saw only two lines of dialogue from my father.

'Fuyumi asked me who the girl you came home with was.

Care to explain?'

I gulped. What was I going to do? Candi was definitely not here so she could romantically pursue me, since she was gay. However, I didn't want to give my father that particular piece of information. He might try to use it to his advantage and take her down from her high social status.

Wait. Her high social status! I sighed in relief. I had forgotten that she came from THE Shadburn family. Candi had more power than I did, and so father would be pleased at the fact that I was close friends with her. However, he would not be pleased with the fact that I was so open with her. Father liked the mask I wore, since I crafted it specifically that he would recognize my potential.

'Her name is Candi Shadburn. Would you like me to explain further?'

I grinned as I sent the email. I could imagined his shocked and pleased surprise that I had managed to establish a close enough relationship with the Shadburns that she felt comfortable coming over to my house. I held my breath as my Chameleon pinged again.

'Good job. I'll trust your judgment.'

A smile broke across my face. Father was actually happy with what I've done, and he explicitly said that he trusted me. Suddenly, being the 3rd son didn't seem like much of an obstacle.

Candi groaned quietly, and I noticed I had taken my hand off of her shoulder. I leaned down, and hugged her. She instantly quieted. I think I heard her sigh in relief, and if this hug released some stress from her. But what kind of stress did she have?

I remembered the strange thing I felt under Candi's left sleeve. Something must be up with her forearm, and she must be trying to hide it. She must have wanted to keep it hidden, but I wasn't sure if I should take a look at it while I can. But that would betray the trust Candi had with me. However, would the answer be worth it? I wasn't sure.

I debated in my head how bad it could be versus how bad her reaction would be. It can't be too bad, since she's still been able to walk around. However, she might not react at all, since she was usually too lazy to react to various other things.

Well, if I died, then at least I know who killed me.

I picked up her left arm and held her wrist in my hand. I took a deep breath, and pulled the sleeve down to her elbow. My eye widened when I saw a thick wrap going around her entire forearm. There was obviously a gauze in between the bandages and the underside of her arm. My eyes widened more when I saw that the entire gauze was wet with blood, and soaking the wrap.

"Kyo?" Candi's tired voice asked me. I looked down at her, and she shifted so that she was face up. Her eyes were droopy, but I decided to wake her up.

"What happened here?" I asked with some anger in my voice. Her wound was reopening and gushing out blood. She was losing a lot of blood.

"Huh?" she asked with exhausted confusion.

"This! Candi, please explain!" I said, louder this time. Her eyes opened wider, and I could see pain, uncertainty and doubt in her eyes.

"What will you do about it once you know what happened?" she asked. Her expression was dead serious. I was so used to seeing her relaxed and carefree face, this was a surprise.

"I… it depends" I said. I wondered what I could say to get her to tell me. Either way, she was involved in something dangerous, and was suffering because of it. Why was she keeping it secret?! She was hurt!

"Kyouya, I've got it under control" she said, sitting up. She shifted so that she was sitting in my lap. "I just need you to keep being here for me, and I'll be just fine."

She put the side of her head on my shoulder, and sighed. I sighed too. If I had said that before her, then she might have told me. "Fine" I said in defeat. I wrapped my left arm around her while the other went back to doing homework. I felt my hand draw circles and other random patterns on her back. Candi remained silent for quite a while, and I wondered if she had fallen asleep. I looked, and her eyes were open as she looked at the floor. She glanced at me for the slightest second, and I wondered if the warmth on my cheeks was visible.

I glanced back at her arm, and I could see the bandage again. The amount of blood visible was very unhealthy. "Candi, you need a new gauze to cover the wound. I won't ask questions, I won't make any assumptions, just let me treat it."

She looked up at me, and I saw a flicker of never-ending pain. It knocked the breath out of me, for real this time. But it was gone in less than a second. "I'll treat it. Do you have a first aid kit?"

I sighed. "You're in a house full of doctors. Of course we have a first aid kit. I'll be right back."

I stood up, and walked out of my room to the hall. I looked in the medicine closet, and soon found a metal box with a red plus logo on it. Why Candi didn't want me to know what happened to cause that kind of wound? She wouldn't tell me how she got that wound. She didn't even want me to look at the wound. What kind of secret was she hiding? I remember a conversation we had at the beach house all that time ago.

'Just how many secrets are you keeping from the world?' I had asked.

'1. And all that relate to it.'

This secret must be doing something to her emotionally, because she didn't have those wounds on her arms before. If it was affecting her emotionally, then why wouldn't she tell me? I shared pretty much everything with her, but she obviously wasn't sharing everything with me. I wouldn't think worse of her. I wouldn't get mad at her. I just needed to know why.

"Here" I said. Candi nodded, taking the metal box and walking to my bathroom. She closed the door behind her. I wonder if I should peek in there to get an idea of what was happening to her. I decided against it. I wouldn't be able to tell what was going on by seeing a sliver of the scene, and she might notice me and would no longer trust me.

"Candi, when you're done, may I inspect your arm to be sure it was bandaged properly?!" I asked loudly. I hoped maybe her agreeing to this would get her to trust me more and for her to feel more comfortable with me.

"Alright" Candi said cautiously. I sighed. That was the bad thing about having a friend who could see through your mask. She could tell I was trying to do something, even if she didn't know what. She popped out sooner than I expected, and sat down in front of me. Her bandaged arm held two safety pins, while the other kept the wrap from coming loose. "I need you to put this in for me. It's horribly difficult to do it myself."

I nodded, and took the pins from her hand. I pulled the end of the wrap, and clipped it on one side, then the other. I held her arm for a minute, staring at it. I had enough hints right in front of me to at least get some ideas going, but why weren't they coming?

"Kyo" Candi said. There was a slight hint of concern in her voice, but it was mostly in an ordering tone.

"Sorry" I said, letting go of her arm. She pulled the sleeve over her forearm, and smiled.

"Hey, I'd better head home now. It's already fairly late."

"Yea. Bye!" I said weakly as she walked out the door. I put my head on my desk. We came in having so much fun and with so much energy. She had left me with confused feelings, an official crush on her, and a complete lack of energy.

Candi's POV

I decided to walk home. It was raining lightly, and it fit the mood. I went into his house, happy, at peace and actually a little energetic. I had left that house with confused feelings, an official crush on him, and a complete lack of energy. However, my lack of energy gave my memories a good opportunity to come at full force. The ground suddenly flew towards me, and I couldn't see anymore.


	9. Chapter 9: Beyond Nightmares

**I want to thank all those who have read my story up to this point, and thank you for your continued support! So please read on, since this chapter is for you!**

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Chapter 9: Beyond Nightmares

Candi's POV

"_Stop" I whimpered. Helena chuckled._

"_I'll never stop. You know you like it, deep, deep down."_

"_I don't!" I murmured in reply. Her lips kissed my hip. The bathwater was drowning out any sort of noise I could possibly make. _

"_Remember, you aren't allowed to tell anyone!" she sang as she licked my waist, right below my bellybutton. _

_I was quiet. I had no more energy to fight back anymore. She was bigger. Stronger. She could thwart any attempts I made against her like I was a gnat. No one else could help me. The door was locked, the bathwater was running, and I had already lost hope. I guess it was just habit to try to escape. _

_But every spark of hope was extinguished. Over and over again. Until there was nothing left._

I woke up, and I was in my room. I was alone. Tears were coming out of my eyes.

"Kyouya?" I asked. It was dark. I needed him. The memories left me alone when I was with him. I needed him. But no answer.

"Jessica?" I asked for my sister this time. She could help. No answer.

"Mom? Dad?" I asked then. Please, just someone!

No answer. Everyone left me alone.

I growled, and shook my head. Why did I have to remember all this?!

I stood up, but my legs gave out beneath me. Thunder struck, which made me jump a bit. I must've missed the flash of white. I wonder how quickly the light rain I experienced earlier turned into a full-blown storm. I wonder if it could actually be a typhoon.

Another flash of white. Except this time, I saw white hair and sparkling blue eyes with them. I stood up with strength I didn't know I had in the moment, and scrambled over to my drawers.

Another flash. Not only was there white hair and blue eyes, but a set of shiny white teeth decided to accompany it. Where was my knife? Did it get buried amongst the clothes I kept in this drawer?

Flash! I screamed when her entire face appeared for the slightest moment. I fell onto my back, but I quickly pulled myself up. Where was that fcking knife?

Tears fell down my face while I screamed at another flash. Her face was there, but her hands were there as well. I finally found it, and ran to the bathroom.

My muscles froze up in fear when another flash occurred. This time, her hands were reaching for me, and her face seemed to be melting. But the image stayed a little big longer than the duration of the flash. I was finally at the bathtub, and pulled my sleeve up. I quickly took off the bandage, desperate for the peace. The gauze that was already deep red fell to the floor. The knife was at my arm, but I hesitated.

I knew this addiction was hurting me. But it was that very pain that distracted me from the pain inside. Should I really be doing this?

Another flash. This time, her face was horrifying. Her skin was pale, as if all the blood was drained from it. There were holes that looked like spots of mold and rotting flesh. Her eyes were the same blue, but the pupil was gone. Her hair was ragged, greasy and full of tangles. Her hands were the same as the skin on her face, but the fingernails were yellow, cracked and had dirt all over them. They were reaching closer. The image wouldn't go away.

Instinctively, I slashed down on my skin. Her face return to the normal fair complexion it was. But the hands were still reaching out towards me. They didn't come any closer, but I was still terrified.

I slashed again. The hands retreated further, but she was still there.

Again. Her hands disappeared.

Again. Her face was gone, but the teeth, hair and eyes still remained. The fear didn't leave either.

Again. Her teeth were gone.

Another time. Nothing.

I sighed. Finally, peace. I gave into the pain. It was like a cool blanket wrapped around me, a place to hide from the past. I rested the right side of my head on the bathtub, and stared at my arm. The warm blood was soon covering my arm in a sea of red, and falling to the bottom of the tub. It's kind of strange to think that this blood was inside me just a minute ago, keeping me alive.

There were now 7 cuts. One was parallel to the first cut, just as deep but shorter. The next crossed with the third at a slight angle, but it wasn't as deep or long. My eyes drifted more towards my elbow where I found another cut. This one was the worst out of all of them. It was long, deep and crossed with all the others. I looked at the next. This one barely grazed my skin, but it crossed with a few. The last was closer to the top of my forearm. It was longer than the worst cut, but it wasn't even an eighth of the depth. It still bled a lot.

All of my cuts were bleeding, and my entire body throbbed. I felt dizzy. I wonder if I could find a gauze large enough for the mess that was now my forearm. I looked down, and my old gauze was 10cmx10cm, but I needed one that was 15x15, at the smallest. I barely was able to reach over and find the first aid kit with the wraps and gauze. I was going through so much gauze and wraps, I would need to buy some more. I could always use the back-up credit card my parents gave me.

I found a couple 10x10 gauzes, and used my blood soaked knife to get one of them to fit my wounds properly. My vision was beginning to blur. I reached over and turned on the shower to get the blood off of there. I had learned to use toilet paper to clean up the misplaced blood.

Soon, my wrap was on, and I was pinning it. I always had trouble with the safety pins, but it was especially difficult when my vision kept getting worse. When I finally got it, I turned off the shower and quickly cleaned up the blood. I put everything away, my knife included, and dragged my tired body back to bed. I didn't even think about the dreams that would await me.

But I didn't know right then that waking up from the nightmare wasn't going to be so easy this time around.

_I played with some dolls with Jessica. My doll was a hyperactive daughter with blonde hair while Jessica played the serious mother with dark hair. I giggled._

'_Mommy, mommy! Can I go ride my pet moose today?! Pleasepleasepleaseplease?!'_

'_No honey' Jessica sighed. 'We don't even own a moose. Honestly, where did you get that idea?'_

'_Come on!' I whined. I felt like I was the doll. That was the thing about me playing with dolls. I almost always got way too into it. 'We have 15 mommy! Their names are Lynn, Rudolph, Victor-'_

'_Candi!' Jessica exclaimed. I was confused. My doll's name was Natalie. Why did she call me Candi? 'You go to your room right now!'_

_Her voice was a shrill yell. My eyes were wide as I nodded, and walked up the stairs. I stopped at the top step. My room was only two steps away, but…_

_I whipped around. Behind me was black. I looked down, and saw my normal body. But why was I in the doll's house? What was going on? The dollhouse was split in half, so according to whatever reason I could scavenge in this strange dream, I should be able to see the playroom no matter where I was in the house. But there was just black._

"_Hello Candi" a scratchy voice said. I whipped around, and there was just one door. It looked the door to the bathroom. I looked back, but I saw was a large blue eye. It twinkled, and I recognized it as Helena's. I looked back ahead, and dashed forward to the only placed there was: the bathroom. Once inside, I slammed the door shut behind me and locked the door. I closed my eyes, breathed deeply, and rested my back against the door. I slid to the ground, and opened my eyes. But there was just white._

_I stood up, and furrowed my eyebrows. I looked to my left and my right, but all I could see was the room. There were walls, but no windows. I whipped back behind me, and the door had disappeared. The room flicked between white and black. It was as if I was inside a stroke light. I tensed, but turned back around. _

_There was the Helena I imagined earlier. Her skin was so pale, it looked blue in the flickering light. Her head was tilted forward, her long white hair covering her face. But I already knew what her face looked like. Her body was covered in a torn and dirty white dress. The stroke light gave her a more menacing aura than what I could see during the flashes of lightning. Her left arm reached over her shoulders. Her body followed. Her head turned upside down and she started to crawl like a crab towards me. I screamed._

_My scream was silenced, even though I could still feel my vocal chords moving. Instead, a sound that was like a shriek coming through a static-filled radio got louder and louder. She stopped and turned back so that she was in a crawling position. Her hair moved, and I noticed blood covered her face. The spots on her body weren't dirt, nor was it dirt under her fingernails. It was dried blood. _

_She suddenly sped towards me at full speed, and I screamed louder. Her face was covered in my blood. She was eating my legs. I couldn't run anymore, but I was too frozen with fear to even think of such a thing. All I could see was her face. The blue eyes were charged with insanity and violent sadism. Her mouth was horrifying: brown and black teeth bathed in my red blood. Many teeth were cracked in half, some were pointed and the rest were missing. _

_Then she got to about where my butt was. The monster took her time eating up to my waist. The rest of my torso was devoured within seconds. _

_Now, only my head remained. It fell to the left, where I could see the playroom. There was my family, sitting there and eating popcorn, watching me as if I was a horror movie. I stopped screaming. The monster just ate my vocal chords. PLEASE HELP ME!_

_JESSICA!_

_MOM!_

_DAD!_

_**SAVE ME!**_

_The last thing I saw was Helena's face. Her eyes were closed, and everything was white. She had a faint smile on her face. Her eyes opened, and the had no pupils._

_I played with some dolls with Jessica. My doll was a hyperactive daughter with blonde hair while Jessica played the serious mother with dark hair. I giggled._

_I played with some dolls with Jessica. My doll was a hyperactive daughter with blonde hair while Jessica played the serious mother with dark hair. I giggled._

_Three more times. Three more times, my family idly watched as I was eaten alive. Three more times, her eyes opened to show no pupils. _

_I screamed._

My eyes lazily opened. The sun was shining in my window. I looked over at the clock. It said 12:00. I looked over on my other side, and there was Helga with a damp washcloth on my forehead.

"Oh, I'm glad yer awake, dearie. Ye were screamin' for an hour straight. Ye have a fever too."

"Oh…" I said weakly. I did not feel any different than normal. Well, it was kind of warm. And my palms felt wet. And my back.

"Here ye are" Helga said, holding a glass of water up to my mouth. She helped me sit up. "Drink up."

I happily chugged all of the contents. I looked again, and there was a tray set on my lap.

"Eat yer heart out. We've all been worried about ya. Everyone wants ye to get better."

I looked around, and saw no one. "Where is everyone?" I asked softly.

"Jessica is at school, and yer Mum and Dad are at work."

They cared about me? Funny. I don't see them anywhere here. They didn't care when I was being raped in their own home. They just gave me medication when they saw that I was depressed. They didn't ask why I was sad. They didn't care. They just wanted me to stop being a bother. And they wouldn't care if they found out the real reason for my wounds. "Is that so?" was all I managed to say. I picked at my food, eating small bites of the waffles. Didn't she know I like pancakes?

"Ye keep eating while I'm away, and I'll be right back" she said. Helga stood up and left.

I sighed, throwing my plate of waffles in the trash. I was slowly sipping my orange juice for about 5 minutes before Helga came back.

"My, my, ye ate that quickly."

"Yea" I said smiling weakly. "I didn't realize I was so hungry."

"Well, how 'bout I take that from ye, and I'll let ye sleep." Helga smiled as she took the tray and helped me lay back down. She smiled as she left. I didn't sleep though. I remembered my dream suddenly, and I had to cover my mouth and plunge my face into the pillow to muffle my scream. The image was absolutely gruesome to play through in my head. And her crawling figure speeding towards me didn't help one bit.

I didn't want to sleep.

Kyouya's POV

I furrowed my eyebrows. Usually Candi is here by now. It was 10 minutes until the start of class. I anxiously watched the clock as I waited for her to get here.

9 minutes. Should I have checked to be sure she got home okay? What if she's not okay? What if something happened to her on her way back?

8 minutes. Did she take a car home? Did she WALK home? But it was raining! What if she caught a fever?

7 minutes. Hold on. I'm panicking. Maybe she's just really tired, and didn't want to come and stop by before class. Or maybe-

6 minutes. –she doesn't want to see me. What if I made her angry, and she doesn't want to even look at me anymore? Gah, I'm so stupid! I should have left her alone.

5 minutes. She would normally be leaving now. Maybe I would have time to see if she's here before lunch. Then maybe like yesterday, she could sleep easier.

I gave a heavy sigh.

"Are you okay?" Tamaki asked me. I looked over at him and smiled.

"I'm fine" I replied.

I stood up right as the bell rang, put my things away and quickly walked to classroom 2-A. I stood outside the doorway, examining the crowd to see if Candi was there. I didn't see the tall auburn haired girl anywhere.

Once the crowd had cleared the doorway, I jumped in. I saw Haruhi eating her bento calmly at a desk, and there was no on else. "Where's Candi?" I asked. I hope I didn't sound desperate.

"She didn't come to school today. The teacher said she had a fever."

"Oh. Okay." I walked back out, and found myself right back at my classroom. I sighed, and sat down at my desk.

I really should have checked to make sure she got home alright. I really should have made sure she had a way to get home. I cursed in my head. There were so many things I could have done to prevent this fever, but I completely screwed up. Candi was sick because of me. I'll have to visit her after Host Club.

I cursed when I thought of the Host Club. Another curse came when I remembered she was probably angry at me, so she wouldn't want me to visit. Man, so many curses. Why did things have to be so complicated?!

* * *

**Such is the thinking of men. It seems Kyouya is no exception. So, how did you guys like that chapter? Really dark, ne? Well, the next chapter will hopefully be happier, but we'll see.**


	10. Chapter 10: Fun Stuff

Chapter 10: Fun Stuff

Candi's POV

I felt my eyes droop, but the image in my head was all that was keeping me from falling asleep. I sat up, and looked around for something I could possibly do to distract me from falling asleep. There was nothing in this blasted room that could get the image out of my head, but I had stopped screaming a while ago. It was almost becoming a normal thing in my brain. Well, anything would if it was going for 4 hours straight in your head.

My elevator dinged, and I dropped back down right before the door opened. I had to look like I was asleep. Otherwise, Helga might make me sleep, and I couldn't have that.

I listened, and they just came in, found a chair and brought it over right next to my bed. My eyes were closed, but I don't think it was Helga. I could open my eyes just a sliver and try to see who it was, but they might discover me to be awake.

"Of all the times to be asleep" Kyouya's voice murmured. I felt his hand comb through my hair affectionately. I hope he thought my blush was just a result of a fever. He suddenly stopped, and I could feel his examining gaze on my face. "You're so pale, Candi."

Why was he speaking to me like this? He just acknowledged that I was asleep, but he addressed me. What was I supposed to do?

"Hang on" he murmured. He felt my forehead. I could feel his cool hands pick up one of my hands, so he most likely felt the sweat on it. I felt him take my pulse at my neck. Why was he taking my pulse? Of all the things…

Next, he lifted my left arm. I was tempted to take it away from him to prevent him from seeing the bandage. However, he already knew about it, so there wasn't much to hide. I guess I could trust him to not unravel the wrap. He was probably examining it, because he did nothing but pull down my sleeve. He still held my wrist as the other hand hover over my mouth. I tried to breathe as normally as I could, but I noticed it took some effort to try to simply breathe.

"Candi, what is happening to you?" Kyouya murmured.

Kyouya's POV

Paleness. Cool, clammy skin. Fast, weak pulse. Bruised skin surrounded the edges of her bandages. Labored breathing.

I may not have been to medical school yet, but I know enough to tell that Candi is suffering from blood loss. The only symptom that she was missing was vomiting blood, but she wasn't awake to do that. I set her arm back down, and picked up the other.

I had to be absolutely sure. I pressed my finger on the back of her hand. This was the capillary refill test. The tiny blood vessels are drained of blood when pressure is applied, and when the pressure's gone, then it should take less than 2 seconds to refill once again. I held my breath as I lifted my finger back up.

As expected, the skin was white, but it should regain its color soon. I counted.

1. 2. 3. 4.

At 5, it was finally back to an even tone. My eyes widened. Maybe I was pressing too hard. So, I tried again.

1. 2. 3. 4.

At 5, her skin was finally back to an even tone. This was bad. She needed a doctor right away.

I stood up to leave, but her arm desperately reached out and grabbed the hem of my shirt. I looked down, and she was wide awake. I looked at her turquoise eyes and saw the raw pain in them again. It was lessening the longer she looked back at me. I sighed, and sat down.

"Please stay" she murmured. She was still gripping my shirt tightly. "It stops when you're here."

"What stops?" I asked. She just shook her head. I looked away, and hopefully the reflection on my glasses was preventing her from seeing the frustration in my eyes.

"I'm sorry" she murmured again. I looked back at her. She has apologized for various things before, but this is the first time I've heard her say it with this much sincerity.

"It's okay" I said, smiling and stroking her hair. "Hey, as soon as you're better, would you like to go on a walk with me and the Host Club?"

She smiled, and chuckled. "I guess. As long as they don't drive me crazy."

I smiled and leaned towards her. I kissed her forehead, which was cool and somewhat sweaty though. I didn't care. I leaned back, and cursed myself for doing that. Why did I decide to do that? What was I, a creep?

I looked at her, and her face remained pale. Well, she is suffering from extreme blood loss. I don't know how she is still alive right now. I noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

"You should go to sleep" I said. She nodded, and closed her eyes. I wonder if she would remember the moment I had there when she woke up. I kept sitting in the chair as I stroked her hair and watched her closely. Even sick, she was more beautiful than any other girl I've ever met, both inside and outside. She sighed, and her breathing became more even.

I wasn't sure what to do about her obvious lack of blood. Whatever was happening to her had hopefully stopped, so I guess there was no need for a doctor. I have heard of cases where extreme blood loss has occurred as a result of heavy menstrual blood loss. That could just be it. But her arm was bruised, which was a sign of external blood loss. Candi was losing a lot of blood from there because of yesterday when she had to redo the bandaging.

I sighed. There were so many possibilities of what could be happening to her. I, however, had no clue which one it could possibly be.

Haruhi's POV

Candi was my friend, and she was also a friend to the rest of the Host Club. I debated whether or not to visit her while she was sick, but she actually came back to school the next day.

"Hello" she said, sitting down at her desk.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" I asked with concern.

"Better" she said, smiling. "Hey, do you think the Host Club would go on a walk with me? I need a break from sanity."

I laughed. "We do tend to do that to people."

"Good. Where should we go?"

"I think everyone else would go crazy over the marketplace downtown" I said, chuckling at some memories. Those guys were impossible. At least Hikaru had tried to be calm then.

She sighed, putting her head on the table. "Sounds good." It was like someone turned off a switch in her, because she was instantly breathing steadily as if she was asleep. I patted her head and sat down at my desk. I looked over, and there were the twins talking amongst themselves.

"Hey, we're going on a walk with Candi today" I said to them. They stopped talking, and looked over at me. Hikaru glanced over at Candi.

"It's rare that she actually requests that we do something" Kaoru said. I nodded when I realized this. I wonder why she wanted to go on a walk.

"So where are we going?" Hikaru asked, looking back at me.

"The marketplace."

"I love that place!" the twins said together. I was surprised at this statement as they kept talking about why they both loved the marketplace. However, the shock of that statement didn't permit me to hear what they were saying.

"Haruhi" they said together, poking me. "What happened?"

"Do you guys realize what you just said?" I asked them. They may have spoken together, but their specific choice of words was what caught me off guard.

"No."

"You guys referred to yourselves as individuals. Instead of saying 'we' you both said 'I'."

They both looked as surprised as I felt. They looked at each other, then back at me. I smiled.

"Big step you guys. Good job!"

Hikaru blushed, but I hardly noticed, since the bell rung and the teacher walked in.

Candi's POV

"Ooh! Cake!" Honey said, running inside a bakery and coming back outside quickly. He had a cake in his hand which he began to eat quickly. I smiled as it was gone within a few seconds. I looked back up at Kyouya. I've been depending on him more and more to make the thoughts of Helena go away.

I remembered the kiss on the forehead he gave me while I was sick. I mean, some friends do that, but I wasn't sure how to interpret it. I wanted it to mean that he loves me back, but I still needed him. I needed him so badly; I couldn't risk him leaving because he didn't think of me that way. However, I still loved him, and wanted him to love me back. I sighed. It was just all so complicated. I wonder how he felt.

I looked over at him, and he was looking at the ground. I couldn't see his eyes, so I can't tell anything right now. I looked back forward, and Haruhi poked my back.

"Yea?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at her. She fixed something with the back of my shirt.

"Tag" she simply said. I smiled a little.

"Thanks." I felt a rush of exhaustion, and I stretched. I also yawned, and when I opened my eyes, everyone was gone. I sighed. That's what I get for being incapable of sleeping.

I looked around, trying to find them. But I saw the exact thing I didn't want.

A tall woman with pale skin and pure white hair was walking towards me. She was dressed in a black leather jacket and right black pants. Even with heels, she was shorter than me, but I froze with fear. She lifted up her oversized glasses to look at me, and I saw twinkling blue eyes. She grinned evilly, and her eyes were filled with the same demonic glee. She returned her glasses to her nose. She was getting closer and closer to me.

"Hello Candi" she said stepping towards my left. Her hand reached up the other side of my hip as she continued walking. She chuckled faintly as she was moving farther and father away. "I trust you didn't tell anyone."

Tears began to leak out of my eyes. I couldn't move with the memories that were flooding into my mind. All the times I told her no, but she still continued. I fell to my knees.

She chuckled.

Hikaru's POV

I had decided that today was the day that I would tell Haruhi about how I feel about her. It was driving me insane, the love I felt for her. She cared about me, and that never changed. I fell back from the group so that I was walking beside her.

"Hey Haruhi?" I asked shyly. She looked over at me. This was the moment.

"Yea?"

"Um… would you…uh…" Shoot. I was loosing steam quickly. "Would you like to go out with me?"

Double shoot. I was blushing. I could feel the heat in my cheeks.

"I mean, I've liked you for a while, and…uh…" I looked at her.

She looked surprised and unsure of what to do. "Yea, I guess, but… crap."

What was she doing? She started to look around like crazy, as if she was looking for something.

"Where's Candi?"

Kyouya's POV

"Where's Candi?" Haruhi asked. I was snapped out of my trance-like state of mind, and looked around as quickly as I could. She wasn't anywhere. I looked again, and there was still no Candi anywhere in sight.

"When did you last see her?" I asked Haruhi. She thought.

"A few minutes ago, I helped her fix a tag that was sticking out of her shirt. She stretched and yawned, since she was tired, but I haven't seen her since."

I dashed back down the path we just walked. Everyone else trailed behind me. Searching more thoroughly than I was. But they didn't know Candi as well as I did. I knew something has been bothering her mind, and it must've gotten to her. She must still be there, frozen in fear.

I almost crashed into a tall, pale woman with white hair. She was wearing all black clothes and oversized sunglasses, but that's all I bothered to take note of her.

I saw a head of dark auburn hair. I sighed in relief in finding her. She was on her knees for some reason. She was facing away, but I didn't care for the time being. I wrapped my arms around her waist. "I found you" I sighed, smiling.

However, Candi did not react how I expected. She pushed my arms off of her, and stumbled away. Standing up, she turned and faced me, her eyes wide with fear and pain. I looked, and took a breath of surprise. The raw pain I would sometimes see in her eyes wasn't even half of the pain I saw now. "No. Get away Helena."

"Candi, it's me" I said, standing up. I reached an arm towards her, but she smacked my hand. This surprised me even further. She had never hurt anyone before, both physically and mentally. But here she was in so much pain and hurting others. What was happening with her? And who was Helena?

"Don't touch me" she said, shaking. I noticed that her face was covered in tears. "Please don't."

She gripped the sides of her head. I took a step towards her. "Candi, it's alright."

"No. You're just going to hurt me" she sobbed. I noticed that the club was watching. But I couldn't care less. What was happening with Candi was far more important.

"I promise I won't" I said, facing my palms towards her. "Candi, its Kyouya. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Kyo…" she said realization. She stumbled towards me, and hugged me tightly. "Kyo, she was going to do it again. She scares me."

Then it clicked. Physical or sexual abuse. The signs were right there. That would explain why she didn't want me to touch her at all, even if I was trying to help her. It would also explain why she was so scared of this Helena. She must not have told anyone, and it was eating her on the inside.

And her arm. She must've been cutting herself. That would explain why she didn't want me to even see her wounds. I've seen many cases where depression gets to the point that people just want to cut themselves to feel something other than fear and sadness.

"It's okay, Candi. You're safe now." I can help her now. I gripped her tighter. Her pain can go away.


	11. Chapter 11: I Say NO, NO, NO

Chapter 11: I Say NO, NO, NO

Jessica's POV

I was in my room, working on homework. Though my answers for the worksheet given to me in advanced Tech-ed were accurate, I still thought about my sister. Candi was sick with a fever yesterday, and ever since her depression when she was 6, she's never been sick. I wonder what could be happening to her that would cause it. Well, it was the change of the seasons, so it's no wonder. Plus, she was walking in the rain. Her secret bodyguard, Juan, had brought her home the day before, saying she had collapsed on the walk home and was soaking wet.

I was concerned for her, so I was by her side almost all night. She whimpered, tossed and turned all night. However, she didn't wake up. I finally went to bed at around 3:30 am, and thunder and lightning was beginning to turn the rain into a storm. I went to school the next day, and she was still asleep. After kissing her forehead and saying a silent prayer for her to get better, I went to school. Mom and Dad did the same thing, and went to work. We had all been silent at breakfast.

I came home from school the next day, and immediately checked on her. There was Kyouya sitting in a chair by her bed. He was holding her hand, and stroking her hair. I smiled at the scene, and decided not to disturb it.

Kyouya ended up leaving her room at around 9pm. I said thanks from the balcony, but I doubt he heard me. He looked like he was wrapped up in his thoughts. Next time I see him, I will have to make sure he knows I'm grateful for helping Candi. She must be very attached to him if she was okay with him stroking her hair. Ever since Candi was depressed as a child, she didn't really like a lot of physical contact.

The doorbell rang. I quickly looked at the time. The clock said it was 6pm. I hope it was Candi. She may have felt better today, but she was a bit late coming home. I rushed out of my room, and quickly ran to the door, and opened it.

Well, I had the perfect opportunity to thank Kyouya, since he was carrying Candi piggyback style. My dad was by my side, and I heard my mother walk down the hall.

"Oh my gd, what happened?" I asked, eyes wide. I moved so he could carry her inside. She was asleep, and gripping his shoulders. It was honestly very cute, but I could see her face wet with tears. Candi had been crying? Whatever was happening had to be major. Even in her depression, she didn't cry. The only time I've ever seen her cry was as a baby. Toddler Candi didn't cry. Child Candi didn't cry. Depressed Candi didn't cry. 10-year old Candi didn't cry. 13-year old Candi didn't cry. Why is she crying now?

Kyouya sighed. "This is going to be a long story, all based on theory." I followed him as he walked into the living room. He set Candi down on the couch, but she was instantly starting to stir. Kyouya moved to where her head was, and put her head on his lap. She stopped stirring when he began to stroke her head. I pursed my lips. Candi never did that with me. She still whimpered during the night when I did all I could.

"What do you mean?" Mom asked. He pursed his lips. I noticed that the rest of the club was with him. They all stood behind the couch I was sitting at. They seemed to want to know what was happening as well. Just what was going on?

"At any point in her life, have you noticed any bruises or scratches that weren't explained sufficiently?" he asked seriously.

"No, but where is this going?" Mom asked, irritated.

"Did Candi ever get depressed at any point of her life?" Kyouya asked, ignoring my mom.

"Yes" I answered. "When she was 6. We had no clue why."

"That young" he murmured in surprise. "

"Do you know anyone by the name of Helena?"

"She was our maid when the kids were younger." This time, my father answered. "We were living in Los Angeles at the time. What does this have to do with anything?"

Kyouya sighed, closing his eyes. "I'm going to be very blunt, so prepare yourselves."

What?

"Candi was raped repeatedly by Helena when she was 6."

"How do you know this?!" Mom exclaimed. Usually, Mom was quiet and calm, but this outburst surprised me. There was a look of rage on her face. "Why do you think that?!"

"It makes sense, when you put all the pieces together. Today, she experienced a repercussion of that emotional trauma, and it's what's been bothering her for a little over a week." Mom was obviously shocked, but then Kyouya pulled back her left sleeve. He unclipped the bandage that had been protecting her cut. The bandage fell to show an extremely large gauze covering her cut. I didn't think the cut had hurt half of her forearm.

But then the gauze fell.

It was like someone had come up with a chainsaw and hacked at the inside of her forearm. There were about 7 large cuts, all scabbed over. Many crossed, and the largest was absolutely gruesome. How had this been happening without me knowing?! I'm her sister! She could have told me!

"Candi is cutting herself to distract her from this pain. At the time, she was obviously depressed, but I'm assuming she managed to forget about it through hacking at her arm. Now, she's been reliving that pain over and over again."

Helga came with a first aid kit, and Kyouya started to wrap up her arm once more. He looked up at us, and I was just starting to get over the shock.

Candi had been raped by Helena?

Hate started to boil towards Helena. She had hurt MY little sister. She had drained all the emotions out of her, and made Candi do this to herself.

At the same time, I hated myself. I didn't see it. As an 8 year old girl, I couldn't guess why Candi hated bathtime. My eyes widened. Helena did this while she was supposed to be having a bath. I was right there, practically outside the door. And I knew nothing. I could have stopped it, but I didn't. I hugged my legs to my chest. Candi was in so much pain, and I didn't help her. This is all my fault. I should have stopped it. I should have helped her.

I looked up at Candi, and her face was at peace. That peace wasn't because of me. Kyouya was there for her, and now he was the only one who could bring her peace. I buried my head in between my knees. I just wanted to die. I was useless to my own sister. Helplessness engulfed me. I wish I could go back in time and stop this from ever happening.

"Jessica, it's not your fault" my father's voice said. His arm wrapped around me. "She's safe now."

"Kyo-chan, is Candi going to be alright?" Honey's voice asked.

"I think she will" Kyouya answered. I said a silent prayer in my head. Please, whoever's listening, I don't care who you are, just please. Please help my little sister to be happy again. Even if it means you take from my happiness, please just make her happy somehow.

Kris' POV

My own daughter. The child I carried for 9 months in my own body. Why could I not see it? The pain she had to go through must've been unbearable.

At first, I was angry at Candi's friend Kyouya for assuming that he knew everything. However, when he laid all the evidence out in front of us, it all made sense. Too much sense. It would explain her depression, her withdrawn behavior, her lack of emotion, her cuts and so many other things. Why could I do nothing? I could have stopped it from happening. I should have fired Helena the second that I realized that Candi wasn't happy.

I should have been able to comfort her. But I saw nothing. I didn't see her pain. I was useless to her. I should have been there for her! Why did I have to be so incompetent!? I'm her mother, yet I could do nothing! I hugged my arms to my stomach. I hated myself so much right now. I was literally starting to become blind with anger.

Colby's POV

That btch. Btch. Btch btch btch btch btch. I'll kill her. She did not get to hurt my daughter and get away like that! She was out there, and she had gotten away with raping my daughter for two months straight. Did she really think she could get away with it? She's thinking wrong.

I growled quietly. The problem was: she already did.

Candi's POV

"Kyouya…" I murmured, waking up. I was lying down on the couch, my head in his lap. I missed the feel of his fingers combing through my hair. I was facing Kyouya's lower chest, and I blushed a bit. It probably didn't show on my cheeks, though, since I was probably at such a loss for blood. Still, I knew exactly what was under that t-shirt.

"Candi?" my sister's voice asked. Her tone was a little off, however. I rolled onto my back, and turned my head to look at her. She was in a fetal position, looking at me with tears in her eyes. Did something happen to her? What was wrong? "I'm so sorry I never knew. It was happening right on the other side of a door, and I still didn't know."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?" I muttered. This was just making no sense.

"Helena" she cried, resuming sobbing. I sat up straight, and looked at everyone. There was mom. Dad. The Host Club. I even saw Kyouya. How did they find out?

"Candi, I need an honest answer." It felt like Kyouya's voice was sounding through a tunnel. "Did your maid Helena sexually abuse you when you were younger?"

I stood up, but had to hold the coffee table because my vision was fading quickly. I could see nothing but black for a moment, but I slowly was able to see my surroundings once more. I looked at Kyouya, and his face was filled with genuine concern. He wanted to help me. I clenched my left forearm with my right hand, but the wrap felt odd in my hand. My eyes shifted down to my arm, and they widened with horror when I realized that my wrap had been replaced.

He had seen them. I trusted him to respect my past. I trusted him, but he just ignored what I wanted and went ahead and did what he want. I felt a pain in my chest. It wasn't like the relieving pain that I'd receive from cutting myself. It was deep hurt. Like someone had ripped out my soul and played with it like a toy. It made my eyes sting. My wide eyes turned towards his face.

"Kyouya…" was all I could manage to say. There was a lump in my throat, the pain was so great. I couldn't gulp it down. It wasn't like a wad of gum you accidentally swallowed. It was like the extreme despair Helena gave me every single time I would look at her those last two months. My body shuddered when I remembered it.

Also unconsciously, my legs began to carry me quickly to my room. Even with the lack of blood and exercise, I was still faster than any of the shocked people behind me could run. My elevator door opened quickly, and I let the doors close behind me. I rested my back against the cool metal of the elevator wall, and that was when my legs ran out of adrenaline. I slid to the ground as my elevator pinged. I used raw willpower to get to my bed after locking my elevator. I sat down, and hugged my legs to my chest.

I finally let the tears out. 'You're being pathetic, Candi' was all I could think. 'It happened in the past. You're just being a bother to everyone.'

The tears doubled.

"Candi" a voice said. I whipped around, searching for the voice. It was the voice of a middle aged woman, exactly how Helena sounded when I saw her on the street. But there was no one. I don't know which would be scarier: her being here, or the fact that I was going insane. I was too scared to notice that I was shaking as if I had been dunked in ice cold water.

"Did you tell them?" her voice whispered in my ear. I flipped around, and could see white hair for the slightest second. There was nothing there.

"Time for punishment" her quiet voice said in my ear with glee. I felt my inner leg tickle, and I scrambled away from there. I crawled quickly to my drawer. The fact that there might be other people watching me didn't even cross my mind as I unraveled my bandages.

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**Heh heh. Yea, this chapter wasn't that good, but I was trying to get you guys a chapter before the end of the day. Hope it isn't too bad…**


	12. Chapter 12: Can't Reach You

Chapter 12: Can't Reach You

Candi's POV

Warm arms wrapped around me, but I instantly pushed them away. I really was going insane. Helena was now hugging me. I didn't look back, fearing for the worst my imagination could create. My subconscious had really outdone itself with the nightmare of the dollhouse. My knife was so close.

"Candi" Kyouya's voice said. I froze. All fear aside, this was kind of embarrassing. He already knew that I was doing this to myself, and now he was watching me as I was about to wrap my hands around the cold metal of my knife once again.

Pursing my lips, I turned around. What if he was angry at me? He was concerned with me, but this was quite the harmful addiction that I had no intention of stopping.

I was studying the floor like it was vital. "Candi" Helena's voice whispered in my ear, soon followed by a chuckle. I quickly launched myself into Kyouya, compelled by fear. But when I felt his arms comfortably wrap around mine, I felt the fear speed away. I squeezed my eyes shut. This was similar to cutting myself, but… different, certainly. It was like cutting would provide a cool blanket to hide me from the pain while Kyouya would give me a warm shield that would protect me from all my memories could throw at me.

"Yes" I said. This was in response to the question he asked earlier. He was good at figuring things out, especially since he figured out what happened to me with what little evidence I let slip by. One of Kyouya's hands moved to my hair, where he quickly entwined his fingers in it. His cool hands were oddly warming to me.

"I'm sorry" he murmured, his cheek comfortably resting on the top of my head. I got a warm, tingling feeling in my chest. Those two words meant so much. I may just be assuming too much, but he felt bad about betraying my trust. He wished he could have stopped Helena from ever coming into contact with me. He was sorry that he didn't notice earlier, before I began to cut myself.

"It's okay" I said. I think I might really be going insane, because there was a faint smile on my face.

Kyouya's POV

I'm really glad that I could stop Candi from cutting herself. After that, she handed me her knife, and asked me to put it somewhere that she couldn't find it. I had thrown it in the trash, after breaking it in half.

"Hello Kyouya" said Candi as the end of 3rd period bell rang. She stood next to me, with her hip touching my shoulder. I blushed a bit, but looked up at her casually.

"Hey. How are you?" I asked.

"Class is boring. I wish I could just skip a grade and be in the same class as you" she whined. I laughed at her voice.

"That's a new tone" I said, still chuckling. She smiled, and knocked my head with her knuckles. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself" she replied. I felt Candi's hands comb through my hair. I knew my hair was perfectly neat as usual, but I was fine with her doing this. Candi seems to require physical touch to keep the thoughts of her painful past away. She must really be attached to me if she needs to do this a lot. But what does she do when I'm not around? She's with me every second she can, but there are certainly times where she can't be around me.

"How are the memories?" I asked. "You can't just keep forgetting about them. You're going to have to deal with them sooner or later."

Candi sighed, and I could barely see her face since she covered it with her long auburn hair. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Candi-"

"Kyouya" she said sternly. I sighed, and looked at her for a minute.

"You know it's true."

"That doesn't make it any easier to deal with it."

"Maybe if you see a psychologist" I offered. "He could help you deal with it properly." Just anything that'll help her when she's alone.

She sighed, and sat down on my desk. Thank goodness my homework had been placed in my bag once more. Otherwise it would have been crumpled. Not that I really cared right now, since Candi was starting to face a serious problem at this moment.

"I don't want to" she said, squeezing my hand. When she get a hold of it?

"Would it help if I go with you?" I asked. She might deal with it better if I help her along the way.

"I don't want to" she repeated.

I reached up, and tucked her hair behind her ear. Her turquoise eyes looked over at me. "Candi, you're not the same person as the one Helena made you. You don't have to be scared anymore."

Her eyes filled with tears and she pursed her lips. "Will you go with me?" she asked in a hoarse whisper. I smiled.

"Yes. I'll be with you as much as I can. I promise."

'Thank you' she mouthed, a few tears spilling over. She smiled, but disappeared after a second. The image of her smiling with tears falling down her cheeks was imprinted on my brain. It was beautiful, and not sad. I had actually comforted her in some long-lasting way. I could practically still feel the warmth of her hand on mine. I wanted to be there for every single happy moment she has. I was to be a part of every happy moment she has. Screw it. I want to make her happy.

I clenched my hand as the teacher began to start talking. Candi was right there, in front of me, and I would never be able to love her as much as I feel. There was no hope that she would ever love me the same way I love her.

Jessica's POV

"Jess?" a voice asked. I lazily glanced over at my friend. Who was that again? Hana? Kiri? "You seem kind of out of it. Are you feeling well?"

"Yea" I said, smiling without emotion. I was useless. My own sister was hurting so much when she sat right next to me at the table each day. For 9 years she was dying. I just thought it was depression, but she was actually living with more pain than I could imagine.

I was worse than Helena. I was worse than whatever evil desire caused Helena to do that to Candi. Worse than the filthiest scum. I wasn't worthy to be called a human, let along the sister of Candi Shadburn.

I don't know how long I was in this zombie-like state. Time becomes distorted when you feel nothing but hate towards yourself. I was eating dinner with my family, I think. There were two people and Candi at the table with me. What was I eating? It tasted like sand.

"Hey Mom? Dad?" Candi asked shyly, breaking the silence. At least, I didn't hear anyone talking. I looked at Candi, even though she did not address me. Maybe I could find out a way to help Candi in listening closely.

"Yes?" Mom asked in reply. I don't know what Dad was doing, but I didn't really want to bother finding out.

"Is there a way I could… I mean, can you… uh…" she said awkwardly. I was hanging onto every word. She was obviously trying to request something of Mom and Dad, but maybe I could help in the process as well.

Candi took a deep breath. "Okay. Kyouya talked me into wanting to see a psychologist. Can you possibly set me up with one?"

"Of course!" I heard mom say. "Are you sure you're ready for it?"

"No. But I still want to" Candi said, pursing her lips. I smiled, even though I was sad I couldn't really help.

"I'm proud of you Candi" I said softly. Her eyes flicked towards mine, and she gave a small smile. But I had a feeling that smile wasn't for me. She looked away, and resumed eating, but I kept thinking of that smile. What if she was faking it? She's been faking smiles for almost 10 years now, and I knew nothing. I couldn't do a thing for her. Candi didn't even consider me a sister. She didn't want my help. My words would mean nothing to her, even if I could think of something that would convey my concern for her properly.

Candi was taking a big step to get over the pain caused by Helena, but she was taking it with Kyouya. I was left behind, left to watch her heal without me.

Candi's POV

I shifted in my seat for what felt like the 60th time. Kyouya was sitting on my right, and I was playing with his left hand while his right held his reading book. I was actually nervous to go to the psychologist, and I accidentally came a bit early. Kyouya set me up with the doctor, and he was already here when I came.

"Kyouya, why did I agree to this?" I asked him, dropping his hand onto my lap. He looked over at me.

"Candi, you've literally told me you're going insane" he said calmly.

"When did I say that?" I asked, confused.

"Never. You just confirmed it now."

I glared at him, and punched his shoulder. "I hate you."

"I love you too" he said, rolling his eyes. He continued reading his book, but I was staring at him in shock. I could feel a blush creep onto my cheeks. Sht, I was already in love with him, but I knew he would never see me that way. However, he just hinted that he might. Why did he have to tease me like that?

"Shadburn?" the voice of a man said as a door opened. I looked, and there was a fairly tall, skinny middle-aged man standing there. I clenched my hands into fists, and stood up. His eyes shifted towards me, and I nodded.

"Kyo?" I asked softly. "Can you come with me?"

He looked up from his book, and smiled. "Of course."

I took his hand in mine, and took a deep breath. What if shifting through all the memories and pain just makes the problem worse?

'_You don't have to be scared anymore.'_ Kyouya's words rang in my head, and I took a shaky step forward. Please, if anyone's listening, help me get through this.

"My name is Taro Yamada, but feel free to just call me Taro" he said, leading me into the room. The atmosphere was somewhat pleasant. I had expected it to be like the principal's office, where the authority sits behind a desk and you feel weak and powerless sitting in an uncomfortable chair in front of them. But it was very different. There were 2 small light green couches facing each other, somewhat larger than loveseats. There was a clear glass table in the middle, and I think that was tea.

"Are you with her?" Taro asked. He was talking to Kyouya.

"Yes."

"Is that okay with you?" Taro asked me. I simply nodded, as I sat down on one of the couched. Kyouya sat beside me, and I noticed his book disappeared. I smiled a little. He cared enough to pull himself away from whatever kind of a book that was.

"Now, before we start, I have one quick question" he said, sitting on the couch across from us. "Are you two dating?"

"No, we aren't" Kyouya said calmly. He squeezed my hand, so I was getting mixed reactions. Did he want to date or something? Or am I just interpreting his actions incorrectly?

"You two are very close" he commented, smiling. This kind of conversation with a doctor was kind of nerve-racking. I was already nervous enough as is. I put one of my legs over the other, and bit my lip. "Well, it seems that you are anxious to start, Candi. I have written down that you were abused as a young child. What kind of abuse was it?"

I tensed. "My maid Helena raped me repeatedly" I said, trying to keep the memories held back. I would completely break down if they decided to take over. I clenched Kyouya's hand tighter.

"How old were you?"

"I was only 6. Jessica, my older sister, was 8 at the time."

"Did she ever attack Jessica like she did to you?"

"No. She-"

"Candi" Taro said sternly but also gently. "Use her name. It's a small step towards getting over the pain, but it's an important step."

I looked over at Kyouya, and bit my lip a little. His dark eyes were looking right back at me, and I took a deep breath. It was like his eyes were easily able to make me stronger in less than a second. I faced Taro once more, and began to talk. And if felt like with each word, the pressure the memories had lessened.

What is this?

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**Sorry for the shorter chapter. I injured my arm, and it may or may not be getting better. **

**Thanks for putting up with me and my weird writing style!**


	13. Chapter 13: Revelation

**I want to thank all you readers for sticking with my story up until now. Your reviews really have encouraged me to be a better writer, so go ahead and write more! :P**

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Chapter 13: Nightmare?

Kyouya's POV

Even though it's been 2 days since Candi's first therapy session, the pain of the story still affected me. To keep this story rated T, I won't give the details, but it was what was keeping me up right now. I tossed and turned, but the thoughts were still there. After much energy spent trying to find a comfortable position, I was exhausted. The thoughts were still nagging me when I drifted into sleep.

_I was looking at a wall. I looked around it, but I saw a light on it. Ah. This was a ceiling. That meant I must be lying down. _

_I flicked my eyes towards my body, and I wasn't surprised to find myself in my boxers and in bed. But this wasn't my own bed. I looked around the room, and it was completely strange. But it was also familiar. Where have I seen this place before? _

_Then I saw the glass coffee table in front of the comfortable chair. I see. This is where I stayed in the beach house. But why was I here?_

_My body ached, but I sat up. This was the place where I first saw the emotions that Candi had been burying within. Maybe this was the first place that I started to love Candi. _

_I shook my head. Candi would never love me. I needed to move on from those emotions. Even if I didn't really acknowledge it in my life, I was engaged and Candi is never going to accept my feelings. If only it was easy to just get rid of them._

_I was knocked back down onto my bed violently by a warm mass of person. For a second, all I could see was long auburn hair. Then I saw turquoise eyes. Then I realized that her knees were on either side of my waist and her elbows were on either side of my head. And she was in her 'pajamas'._

_My eyes widened. This was a very suggestive position. That thought made a blush come to my cheeks. Where did she come from anyways? I was alone a second ago._

"_Kyo, you're blushing" she said, grinning evilly. She put her warm forehead against mine. _

"_Candi?" I asked in surprise._

"_Of course, silly" Candi said laughing softly. "Who were you expecting?"_

"_Ah-" I struggled for a response, but Candi slowly brought her lips closer and closer. The closer she got, the less I cared about the fact that this was probably a dream. I closed my eyes, both nervous and, don't think I'm a pervert, excited for what had to be the best first kiss ever._

_Two geological ages later, I felt her soft lips press against my own. It was like something exploded inside me. She must've planted a time-bomb inside me. That would explain how good it felt to finally have her with me. I couldn't get enough of what I was feeling. Hm. This time-bomb must've exploded heroin all inside me. I was floating and being crushed at the same time. Well, that may be because she let the lower half of her body crash onto mine. _

_I craved more heroin. With a burst of energy, I flipped the both of us over so that I was on top. Candi had yelped in surprise, but I had resumed kissing her. One of my hands moved to her hair, which was now spread all over the place. I felt the edge of my glasses dig into my eyebrow, so I quickly threw them off. I didn't care about where they went, since one of her hands moved to the back of my neck. I felt her grip the hair on the back of my head. It hurt, but, excuse the perverted term, in a good way. I felt my vocal chords move, and I blushed when I realized that I just moaned._

_I tried to ignore that little bit of embarrassment, but them I realized that Candi's tongue was in my mouth. When did that happen? I honestly couldn't care less, so I happily complied in the French kissing. _

_A few hot minutes later, we were stopping for air. "I thought you were gay" I murmured breathlessly._

"_I just said that to keep the guys away. I'm having trouble resisting you" she chuckled. I looked over at her, but I saw nothing. What happened to her? Where did she go?_

_I sat up, even though my body ached even more now. "Candi?" I asked._

"_She's gone" the voice of a middle aged woman said. I whipped around, and my eyes met a short pale woman, probably in her mid-30's. She was wearing over-sized sunglasses, and all black clothing. Her high-heeled boots made her seem a couple inches taller, but she was still short. The most shocking feature about her was her long, white hair. She was incredibly familiar. Where have I seen her?_

"_Who are you?"_

"_Aw, you already know who I am" she smirked. "You're the legendary Kyouya. You should know a lot about me."_

_I growled. "Where is Candi?"_

"_I already told you. She's gone. She's too far away for you to save her." She started to laugh insanely, and her glasses fell off of her nose. She was laughing so hard that her eyes were closed until she finally calmed down. Her eyes opened, and I saw the twinkling blue color for a split second before she disappeared._

_Helena._

_The street. She was there, and caused Candi to break down. I needed to wake up now. I had to force myself out of my current state of consciousness to wake up in my own bed._

I woke up, and stumbled out of bed. I barely noticed the time, which informed me that it was 5:30 in the morning. The alarm would go off in approximately 15 minutes, but I needed to tell someone.

But who could I tell? The events that caused Candi so much trauma happened in America, and the Japanese police would have no jurisdiction. Since I just woke up, I had to come up with a solution through the grogginess that was clouding my mind. I needed to tell someone who could do something about it. Not Father. That would be betraying the trust Candi had given me. Father would investigate, ask questions, and get answers.

My private police. Of course. I could give them a description of Helena and they could search while I inform Candi and her family about this. But why didn't Candi say anything about the fact that she saw Helena on the street that day?

I shook my head. I had work to do. Even if it was a Monday, I wasn't tired in the slightest.

Helena's POV (get ready for this, you guys)

Japan had to be the most interesting place ever. They almost encouraged rape, but I didn't really care what society said about my favorite activity. I was working as a nanny for a family with twin girls about 7 years old. Their rich parents discouraged their loud and playful behavior. They did everything together, which just made my hobby all the more interesting.

What I had not expected was to see Candi Shadburn on the streets of the suburbs of Tokyo. It took me a minute to recognize her, but then I realized why she was staring at me. She had grown a lot in the course of about 9 years. I'd honestly like to play with her again, since it's been a while since I've had some teenage playmates. However, I was still exploring with the twins. I just talked with her a little bit, and reminded her not to tell anyone about what I did.

"Helena, I want to thank you for managing to tame these little devils" Mrs. Yamamoto said while I ate dinner with the family. "I'd like to give you a raise."

I tried to hide the malicious manner of my grin. My smile was successful in appearing polite and grateful. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Yamamoto. It's my pleasure."

My great pleasure.

The door knocked the next Monday morning, and I had been left to take care of the house. I went to answer it, but I got a peek out the window at who it was. It was some sort of police. I grinned, letting my evil nature show in it. Candi must have sent them to find me. Well, escaping out of prison would be quite the new experience. I opened the door, and soon felt the handcuffs go on me.

I wonder how it took these guys to find me.

Candi's POV

I smiled at Kyouya who walked out of his classroom. He looked at me, and sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I was being very demanding lately with my whole experience with Helena. I decided earlier today that I was going to be more considerate of him.

"Nothing" he replied. We walked to the 3rd music room together. I didn't exactly put my heart into the Host Club, since all I really did was lazily talked while all the girls blushed. I looked at Kyouya once again.

"It's never nothing" I said, right before I opened the door, and Tamaki tackled me in a hug.

"IT'S MY DAUGHTER!" he shouted in my head. I sighed. I knew Tamaki was crazy, but I never like to have my personal space invaded to this degree. He was practically on top of me.

"Tamaki, I know I'm your daughter and all, but people would seriously misunderstand this position."

He paled, and coughed as he stood up. "I apologize for that behavior. You are correct: that position was inappropriate."

Hm. A serious Tamaki. Is the writer high? **(A/N: Yes. Quite so.)**

I looked at Kyouya, and noticed that he was blushing. I turned back to see what Haruhi was doing. Wait, WHAT?!

Probably achieving the perfect double-take, I looked back at Kyouya and saw that his cheeks were indeed light pink. What was he blushing at? Was it me? No, that was wishful thinking. He and I were best friends. I was far from being even a potential girlfriend to him.

I noticed that he was looking back at me, some sort of weird emotion in his eyes. I couldn't tell what it was for the life of me. I heard a ping, and Kyouya pulled out his smartphone-sized Chameleon, breaking his gaze from me. His face turned serious as he put it back in his pocket.

"Candi, we need to go now" he said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me along.

"Where?" I asked kinda stupidly.

"Your house."

"Why?" Again, I probably sounded like an airhead.

"Candi, just trust me" he said, looking over his shoulder at me for a split second. There was concern in his eyes.

"I already do" I said, feeling my lips turn into a faint smile.

"Then we need to hurry."

I sat next to him in the limo, and pursed my lips. He looked anxious. I wasn't sure if I should ask him again as to what was happening. Knowing Kyouya, this had to be very, very important if he was willing to skip Host Club for this. Kyouya took a big breath, and looked at me.

"Forgive me for doing this Candi" he said. I tensed. This seriously needed some context.

"For what?"

"I realized last night that I've actually seen Helena, so this morning I employed my police force, giving them an accurate description of Helena. They just found her, and are holding her at a prison-like place not far from my house."

The shock of this caught me off guard. I never really hated Helena, I was just scared of her. Still-

"She's being raping little girls just like how she did to you for over 15 years now" he said, interrupting my thoughts.

Upon further review, I noticed anger and hate boil within me. I hated myself for close to 10 years because of her, but to think that she's done this to more girls makes me want to murder her several times over. The fear was still present, and the combination of both emotions was almost overwhelming. I felt my eyes prickle with tears. I looked up at Kyouya.

"Thank you" I said around the lump in my throat. I hugged him around his waist tightly. "It will all finally end. She won't hurt anyone anymore."

He put an arm around me. I felt something press to the crown of my head softly, but I just passed it off for my imagination. It has proven to give me very realistic hallucinations. I didn't care. All that was left was to face Helena, the greatest fear of my life.

Colby's POV

I came home from work early today. Kris was happy to do so with me. This would make the 5th time in a row we've gone home earlier than 5pm. I glanced at the clock in our living room, and it said it was 4pm. If Candi hadn't joined the Host Club, she would be home right now. However, I don't regret letting her come home an hour and a half later. She's spending time with friends. Jessica never had a problem socially, but Candi on the other hand, had plenty of trouble.

And it was all Helena's fault. She was running around out there, happy that she did that to my daughter and got away with it. I growled at the thought, but I felt Kris' hand on my arm.

"You're thinking of that woman too?"

"Yes. I wish there was some way to track her. Then she would face justice. The thing I can't stand about this is that she did that to Candi, and got away with it."

"I wish we knew earlier. She must have been suffering through a lot of pain, and she was even cutting herself without us knowing."

"I could have helped her earlier" Jessica's voice murmured. Surprised, I turned towards the oversized chair to find Jessica hugging her knees to her chest. That was quite unusual. Jessica has always flamboyantly made her arrival known. However, she had snuck over to us, sat down and we didn't even notice her until she had said something. I thought she was out with friends right now, as she always is. What's going on with Jessica?

My thoughts were interrupted when the front door opened. Candi was followed by Kyouyu, I think that's his name, and they were both looking pretty serious.

"Kyouya, what's wrong?" Kris asked. I would have to note that his name was actually Kyouya.

"Kyouya found Helena."

All I could really think was: Kyouya, you may marry my daughter any second you wish.

Jessica's POV

Kyouya. Kyouya. Kyouya. It was all about Kyouya. Kyouya did this. Kyouya did that. I could do nothing. Kyouya was a magical person who could do everything. Why doesn't she just marry him already?! Well, she's gay, but…

I buried my head in my knees. Kyouya found out about her problem. Kyouya was helping her. Kyouya found Helena and brought her to justice. They were all talking about how great he was right now, and I was completely ignored. I barely noticed some 6 other people walk into our living room and shriek about how great Kyouya was. Honestly, can they just give it all a break?

I stood up, and calmly walked out of the room. I sat down in a chair outside, and finally let the tears leak out of my eyes.

"Jessica?" a boy's voice asked. I just hugged my legs tighter. Whoever it is, just go away.

"Don't feel bad about yourself" he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. He was wrong. I was a horrible person.

He walked away, and I snuck a glance at him. It was Tamaki, it think. Well, he was the hyper blonde one who I remember I had a lot of fun with. I buried my head again when he was walking back with a chair. He set it next to mine, and crossed his legs in his chair. I felt his arm around my shoulders, and I got this strange, warm tingly feeling inside me. Well, he was an expert male-whore, so I could expect at least the tinglies from him.

What I didn't expect what the fact that I was feeling a bit better, even if it was just the tiniest bit. I sighed, and rested my head against his shoulder. My neck was hurting from being bent over forwards. Why couldn't I do this much for Candi when she was hurting? Kyouya just came in, and he helped her without even trying to. I lost my chance long ago.

Tears leaked out of my eyes, as I let the stress of the entire situation go. I didn't care if the problem would come back worse. I needed a break. Even though my body ached and my head hurt even more, I fell asleep. It was just plain bliss.

* * *

**Hm… Jessica might just have a future boyfriend if this keeps up :P~**


	14. Chapter 14: Need You Now

Chapter 14: Need You Now

Tamaki's POV

I had seen Jessica walk out of that room, and I had glimpsed her face. Simply put, she looked depressed. I looked at the situation in this room, and people were having serious and happy conversations. Since I wasn't involved in any, (I couldn't understand why people were ignoring me when I was talking about the ever-so-important issue of the fact that Haruhi went on a date with Hikaru) I easily walked out to follow her.

I didn't expect to find her crying. Why wasn't she happy?

It took me a few minutes to understand that Jessica wasn't able to help Candi anymore. Everyone who saw Kyouya and Candi together would agree that she was happiest around Kyouya. I couldn't even imagine how helpless she must feel. I had a feeling that nothing I would say would help. I had just put an arm around her, and hoped that was enough. It must've done something, because she rested her head on my shoulder.

After a few minutes, she was breathing long and even breaths. I looked down at her, and her eyes were closed. I took my hand, and gently wiped the tears I saw.

Jessica was a lot of fun to be with when she was extremely energetic. She had made me blush when she kept tickling me. I smiled at that memory. Jessica was a lot of fun. It's a horrible shame for such a lovely young lady to be so sad. I won't lie: she is quite pretty and I didn't see a hint of make-up on her face. It was difficult to think that she was the same age as me.

I took my hand off of her shoulder and began to play with her hair. It was shorter than Candi's: only down to her armpits. And now that I think about it, she's really tall. And fairly skinny. However, she was easily strong enough to tackle me, Kaoru and I think I saw her knock down Mori. She was quite the strong girl. If I had a specific type, then I'd say that Jessica was the perfect humanization of everything I could ever want in a girl.

I blushed when I realized that I actually thought that. Though I was tempted to, I did not back away 5 billion miles. She was sleeping, and this was probably a lot better than the stress of the entire situation was bringing her. I had to consider her.

Sighing, I continued to play with her hair. I remember seeing Kyouya do this to Candi, and they were quite close. I wonder if I'll end up being close with Jessica.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. I saw Candi go to bed, the Host Club go home, the sun set, and Candi's parents going to bed. I was even starting to get a bit cold. I looked over at Jessica and realized she was wearing a tank top and shorts. She had to be freezing.

I debated what I should do. She might wake up if I do anything, but she'll loose her arms to frostbite if I don't. She was sleeping so well already, and I didn't want to ruin that.

Deciding her arms were more important, I put one arm under her knees and carried her inside. I looked at the elevator doors, and wondered which one was Jessica's. I remember seeing Candi come out of the one on the left, so I walked Jessica up on the right staircase. She was still fast asleep. Jessica must be going through a lot of stress if she's asleep this deeply.

I walked into her room, and realized that it smelled really nice. Like, really, really nice. It was a large room, but her bed was fairly small. I saw a treadmill, a TV, a huge boombox, some more large speakers and many, many posters. I could read the English names well enough. Jay-Z, LMFAO, Adam Lambert, P!nk, Drake, Ca$h Out, Missy Elliot, Eminem, Nelly, Kanye West, and many others where the font was too weird for me to read.

She must really like hip-hop music. I wonder if she liked any Japanese music artists.

I set her down on her twin sized bed, and knelt down next to her bed. Her face was really pretty. There were quite a bit of freckles on her face, but I hadn't noticed them until now. One would have to look very closely.

I backed away 5 billion miles this time when I realized my face was that close to hers. What was happening with me?

Candi's POV

_Two twin girls walked up behind me and tugged on my sleeves. I turned around, and saw them. They had a sad look in their eyes. They were Japanese, certainly, but they had shocking blonde hair, completely contrary to their race._

"_You're Candi?" they asked together in their small, innocent voices. Why did I feel like I knew them so well?_

"_Ame* and Aiki?" I asked. Why did I know them? I felt like I had some sort of connection. I turned to my left, since I felt someone's presence there. It was a girl, probably around my age, with pale skin and pitch black hair. I knew her too. Her name was Brianne. She lived in New York, the complete other side of the world._

_Someone else was behind me. A woman, probably in her mid-20's, was there, and she looked as confused as I felt. What was Katarina doing here? She lives in Russia._

_Another girl, around 10 years old was behind me. I knew it was Catherine, even without looking. But she lived in Germany-_

_Fang was also here. Beijing wasn't that far from Japan, but what were they all doing here? _

_JiKyun was also here, all the way from South Korea._

_Ghiangi lived in Vietnam, but she was here as well._

_Iris, too, was here, but she was from Greece._

_There were about 40 more names and faces that rushed into my head, all from completely different places. Why did I know every single one of them?_

"_Good, you're all here" a voice said. I froze, as did everyone else here. It was Helena. I vaguely wondered why everyone else was just as scared as I was, but Helena's voice was too distracting._

"_How about we all have some fun together? With this many of us, it'll surely be much more fun than usual" she chuckled. I ran away from where I heard the voice. So did everyone else. At the exact same time, everyone bumped into an invisible wall._

"_You can't escape" she said, before I collapsed. My mind went blank. _

I took a deep breath as I woke up from my nightmare. The fear was indeed strong, but I was stronger now. All those girls must know Helena, and most were around my age or younger, so I could conclude that those are girls that Helena has also attacked.

The sound of 50 girls screaming at once and the image of the zombie-Helena flashed in my mind, and I clamped my hand on my mouth. The strength and will power that I had been building was crumbling. I wish Kyouya were here. It all goes away when he's with me. Even when he's not with me, he still cares about me. He found Helena without me even asking. He found the witch even though he was so busy without putting forth that effort. He still cared enough to make sure she is brought to justice.

The sound of the screaming doubled, and I rolled over in my bed. I wish Kyouya was right beside me in bed. (NOT THAT WAY YOU PERVERTS.)

I saw my Chameleon on my bedside table. I crawled over to it, and stared at it for a second. Even though my parents are the ones who made this, it still felt unnatural in my own hands. I almost never took it out, even though I always had it with me. Quickly unlocking it, I soon was staring at Kyouya's number that I had already dialed. I pursed my lips. Kyouya really liked his sleep, and I was already causing enough trouble for him.

The screaming was still there, but then my imagination threw the zombie at me, and I could practically feel her eating my body.

I pressed call.

Kyouya's POV

Why did I leave my Chameleon on full volume? It was 2 in the morning, and there was someone calling me. I glared at the screen, but that was a mistake. I swear, that thing is brighter than the sun.

Once my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I saw Candi's name. I didn't fully register this fact, but I still pressed accept.

"What?" I grumbled.

"Oh, uh…." Her voice said. I was instantly awake, and was fully aware of the fact that Candi's voice was close to sobbing.

"I'm sorry. What's wrong?" I asked, forcing my voice to be nice.

"I… uh…" she murmured awkwardly. Well, at least it wasn't something dangerous and urgent that required my presence immediately.

"Are you okay?"

"Can you just talk to me?" Candi said a little too loudly. Her voice sounded even closer to crying.

"About what?"

"Anything" she whispered.

I racked my brains for 'anything'. It's not easy to come up with a conversation topic on demand when you're still trying to figure out if you're wearing pants. I was, but I think I lacked a shirt.

"You know, when I first met you" I began. "I honestly respected you. It was when you stood up to those bullies, in the cafeteria. Even though you were probably trying to make them shut up, you protected that girl. I still wonder what you had said to them to make them go away. I swear, you must've gone on the internet and erased every single article even mentioning you. I only found a picture that didn't have any information on you. And you know how I like to have all the information on a person."

I kept rambling on about my first opinions of her. She was frustrating, mysterious and weird all at the same time. She didn't say a word the entire conversation, but she did chuckle occasionally. I glanced at my clock in between a couple of my sentences, and was surprised at the time.

"Wow. It's already 2:45. Good thing we don't have school tomorrow. Why did you need me to talk anyways?"

Her end of the line was silent at my question. Once I stopped talking, I did notice a faint snore. I smiled to myself.

"Good night" I murmured softly. "Sweet dreams."

My Chameleon awoke me with my weekend alarm at 10 am. I opened my eyes, and quickly turned off the alarm. I sat up, and was quickly dressed and showered and all that before I noticed that I wasn't in a bad mood. Normally when I wake up, I feel my mind being dragged down by the want for more sleep and my mind has to drag my body the opposite direction. It's not fun.

But I didn't feel that at all. I felt like I could withstand 1, no, 2 (!) Tamaki insanity moments before snapping. This was quite rare. I wonder if it had something to do with talking with Candi at 2:30 in the morning. Odd.

I remembered the one-sided conversation, and smiled. I had talked more than a teenage girl on weed, and she didn't say a word. She just listened as I simply talked and talked about my previous opinions of her. I wonder why she needed to talk to me. I wonder if she would mind me going over to her house and hanging out. I shouldn't ask her why she called me, since she was close to crying when she did call.

I wonder if she had another nightmare. I had heard her mention that she had nightmares where her imagination would create various monstrous forms of Helena.

I sighed, and walked out of my room to get out of the house. However, I was walking down the hall when my father walked out of his office.

"Ah, Kyouya. We need to talk" he said, stepping back into his office without giving me another glance. I didn't let any sort of reaction show on my face, since this was my father. Even if I wanted to go to Candi's house, I couldn't if Father needed me.

"Yes, Father?" I asked politely as I sat down across from him at his large desk.

"Kyouya, I need to know the nature of your relationship with Candi Shadburn" he said bluntly. Seems we are getting straight to the point. Or rather, his point. He must really want to know this information

"We are close enough to feel comfortable without honorifics. She trusts me with what I believe to be all her secrets. She b-"

"I didn't ask what you guys do together. I asked about the nature of your relationship."

Sht. I was not prepared for that question. I loved her, but she was gay, so I can't quite say romantic. "We are very close friends."

"Closer than the Suou boy?"

"Yes" I said without thinking. Crap, what if he wanted me to be the closest to Tamaki?

"Good" he said. I gave an inward sigh of relief. "You may go."

"Thank you" I said, bowing.

Candi's POV

I sighed, staring at the ceiling. I was officially bored. It was the weekend, so I probably wouldn't see Kyouya today. I remembered the 'conversation' we had last night. He had talked and talked, and didn't question why I needed him. My lips pulled into a smile. He's awesome.

Suddenly, I felt someone tackle me in my bed. I screamed softly in surprise. "Jessica!" I yelled with some irritation.

"Nope" Kyouya's voice said. My eyes widened when I realized the man of my dreams was on top of me. He was grinning, one of his lenses reflecting the light of the sun.

"Kyo!" I whined. Way too many perverted thoughts were running through my mind at this moment. He could kiss me this very moment, and I wouldn't be able to get out from under his arms that were forming a cage-like barrier. Then again, I wouldn't really want to leave…

"You need to drink water missy" he said, looking at me over his glasses. I barely heard him, since I remembered what his abs and chest looked like very vividly. It was way too easy to imagine him without a shirt. Or pants for that matter, but that though certainly did not help.

"You need to get off of me, freak" I murmured, glaring at him. He chuckled.

"You sure you're not an AB blood type?"

"Yes. I'm an O."

"Hm. We are completely opposite" he noted. He touched his forehead to mine. This guy was the worst. He was teasing me way too much.

"I hate you" I said, glaring at him.

"I love you too" he said sarcastically. If I wasn't blushing already, I had to have pink on my cheeks by now. He was on top of me, an inch away from kissing me, and saying the exact words 'I love you'. If I didn't know it would never happen, I'd expect he'd be kissing me already. Why does this awesome guy have to mock my feelings?

"Off me, weirdo" I said gruffly, not moving an inch. I was wearing a sports bra, but my boobs were still a millimeter from touching his chest. Why was he so close, yet so far?

"Are you just going to stay in bed?" he asked expectantly.

"Yes" I replied, not missing a beat.

"Well then" he said, falling down and facing the ceiling next to me. "I agree with this notion."

I laughed. "Why didn't you stay in bed at your own house? Did you have to come and annoy me?"

"Yes. Plus, my dad was home, so I needed to look like I was doing something" Kyouya replied.

"Ah. Well, then I excuse you for surprising me, but it'll take a while to get over the fact that you didn't get off of me when I told you to."

"Sorry your Highness" he said, rolling his eyes. I chuckled. Last night, I had wished he was beside me. Well, he's here now, but I want him to… not. "What's so funny!?"

"Ah, nothing" I said, shaking my head. I rolled over so I was facing him. "Was I really that weird to everyone at first?"

"Yes" he said, not missing a beat. I grabbed a pillow, and hit him squarely on face with it.

"How long are you going to be bugging me?"

"At least a couple hours."

"Buddha help me" I said, sighing.

"You're Buddhist?" he asked in surprise. I arched an eyebrow at him.

"They teach that peace is happiness, and I'm certainly one for peace."

He laughed. "That makes sense."

"So why don't you leave if you understand that?"

"Because I'm not."

"Why are you even my friend?"

"Because you wouldn't last a day without me."

"Shut up!" I cried indignantly, hitting him in the face once again. He smiled, shaking his head.

"You didn't deny it~"

"I said shut it!"

* * *

***Ame translated is candy. Coincidence?**


	15. Chapter 15: Nope

Chapter 15: Nope

Kyouya's POV

I looked at my Chameleon. It was dark outside. I had just gotten to sleep, but someone was calling me. If it's Hikaru and/or Kaoru, then I will somehow find a way to make them suffer eternal torment.

"Yes?" I asked icily.

"K-K-K-Kyou-u-u-uya?" Candi's shaky voice asked me. "S-s-s-she was g-g-g-going to h-h-h-h-h-h-u-urt m-m-me ag-g-gain. All-lll-ll she d-d-d-d-does is l-l-l-laugh. She j-j-j-just w-w-w-w-w-w-w-won't s-s-s-s-s-stop."

"Candi, it's alright" I said as soothingly as I could manage at this late hour. I have never heard her this panicked. What can I say to help her? "You are so wonderful, Candi, and Helena will never change the fact that you are perfect."

"She-e-e-e s-s-s-says-s I'm-m-m j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-just d-d-d-dam-m-m-m-maged-d-d-d-d g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-goo-o-o-o-o-o-odd-d-dd-d-dd-s-s-s-s-s." Her stuttering was getting worse and worse.

"Candi, you are perfect. You are beautiful. What Helena did all those years ago won't ever change that."

I heard Candi's shaky breath on the other end of the line. Is there anything else I could say? "Th-Th-Thanks" she whispered.

"Are you feeling at least a little bit better?" I asked tentatively.

"A l-lot, yea" she said. She took a deep breath. "You know, you're just as awesome."

I smiled. That coming from her was really… well, I got the butterflies in my stomach. "Thanks. You can call me anytime you need me."

She chuckled. "I think I already know that. It's 3am."

I laughed when I looked at the clock. "True."

There was a somewhat awkward silence between us. Or maybe it was just in my head. Candi probably never feels awkward. And the fact that I really like her might also be influencing it. I sighed, and rolled over in my bed.

"How bad was the dream?" I asked. A second later, I facepalmed. What kind of a question was that?! Of course it was really bad! She called me and was almost incapable of speaking with coherent words!

"Very."

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked. She sounded like she wasn't fazed by the question.

She exhaled slowly. "If you haven't been able to tell already, it was about Helena." She laughed breathlessly.

After another slow breath, she spoke. "Well… it started with me and you in the car, and we were on our way to face Helena. I was clinging to you for dear life already, and we finally got out. We were on our way down, and we kept passing by bathrooms, all in which the water in every sink was running full blast. As is that wasn't bad enough, doors kept locking and unlocking. I asked why the hallway was so long, and you said that's just how the building was built. We got into an elevator, and there was some random music playing, and I had no clue where I recognized it from.

"I looked back at you, but I was actually holding Helena's hand. And she was grinning. You were on the floor, a pool of blood collecting. The lights went out in the elevator, and some sort of alarm went off. Then the emergency red light came on within the elevator, and she had turned into the zombie. And her head was resting on her shoulder, and she put a hand out toward me, and I tried to get out of the elevator, so my back was turned towards her, then she reached a hand through my hair really slowly, and she started to claw at my face."

Her sentences were becoming more and more blended into one rushed thought. I just let her talk. Judging by her voice, she sounded just fine, besides the rushed aspect.

"I ran away from there, but tripped over your body, then I looked at you, and your body looked like it was all old and rotten, just like Helena. That's when Helena got to me, and she started to break my bones, and scratch my skin, and throw me on the wall, and she said words that were barely distinguishable within her laughs. She was saying things like 'No good', 'you told', 'worth noting', 'damaged goods', things like that. Then I woke up."

"That sounds horrifying" I said breathlessly. "Are all your dreams like that?"

"Not quite, but they all suck." She chuckled softly, then sighed. "It just all goes away when I talk to you. Thank you for that."

I smiled. "You can depend on me anytime."

"That's why you're the best, Kyo" she said in a yawn. "Can you just talk like you did the other time?"

"Well, I guess I could tell you about how each person joined the Host Club."

"Yea, I'd like to know why Haruhi was roped into that."

"She broke a vase of ours, but anyways, I'll start with Hikaru and Kaoru. Well, Tamaki being the idiot he is" I began. I ended up talking for quite a long time. I had skipped why I had joined the Host Club, since it was kind of pathetic. My dad told me to, so I had little choice.

I paused for a minute in my continual flow of words. I listened to the other end of the line. Candi was breathing deeply, and I smiled. She was so cute, the way she slept. I wish I could see her. I wish she was mine. I wish she could just forget about being gay for one simple 24-hour period, and just let me hold her.

"I love you" I murmured. I pressed the end call button, and buried my head in my pillow. It would never happen.

Candi's POV

Kyouya's voice was making the image of Helena stop in my head. Every second he continued to talk, I felt more and more at peace. When Kyouya stopped talking for some reason, I heard the exact words I had always wanted to hear.

"I love you."

I was bringing myself out of my half-concious state to see if I really just heard that, but then the line went dead. I looked at my Chameleon, and just stared in shock at it. Then I threw the stupid thing onto my floor. Did Kyouya just say 'I love you' to me? Or was it my imagination. Maybe he said something that sounded like 'I love you', and I just heard it wrong. But what if it was real? Did he just say that because he thought I was asleep?

I turned onto my back. I wanted Kyouya as a boyfriend so badly. I wish I could see him. I wish he was mine. I wish I could forget about the façade of me being gay for just one day, and just let me hold him.

"I love you too, Kyouya" I murmured. I turned back onto my stomach and buried my head in my pillow. It would never happen.

There was no memory of a dream as I woke up, thank goodness. I sat up in bed, suddenly getting an idea. No school today means that Kyouya's probably going to be sleeping in. Sleeping in means revenge.

I grinned, and quickly changed out of my pajamas. I just grabbed a muffin and ate it in the car ride over to his house, almost giddy with excitement. I planned it out in my head, the perfect plan.

"Hello. You are a friend of Kyouya's, correct?" a maid asked while I took off my shoes.

"Yes. Can I go alert him of my presence?" I asked, unable to keep the grin off of my face. The maid smiled.

"Of course. You already know where his room is, so feel free."

I almost ran to his room, and quietly opened the door. I glanced, in, and saw him sprawled out on his bed. Ever so quietly, I closed the door behind me, and tip-toed over to his bed. I crouched, holding my breath. Then I jumped on top of him, grinning like a mad-man. My hands were on either side of his head, and both knees on either side of his waist. This was exactly what he did to me the other day.

"Good morning Kyouya!" I said happily. He groaned, and rolled over.

"Get off Fuyumi. You're the worst older sister ever" he moaned. I had a slight heart attack when he mentioned another girl's name, but I instantly recovered when he mentioned the fact that she was her sister. My excitement with my devious plan took over any sort of jealousy I might have had in that second.

"Nope, Candi."

His eyes shot open, and he started to blush. Why was he blushing? This shouldn't bother him, since he thinks I'm gay. I was the one crazy in love with him.

"Off" he grumbled. I grinned.

"Nope. It's revenge."

He sighed. Suddenly, his arms were around my waist, and pulling me towards him. My face crashed into the pillow beside his head, but he was hugging me tightly. What is he doing? I was feeling my face heat up more and more, but I didn't want to resist. His embrace was warm.

"What are you doing?" I murmured.

"Let's just stay like this for a while" his voice whispered back. I relaxed. A small part of me wished that I was under those blankets with him. What was going through his head? Why did he want to do this? Not that I really minded, but why did he initiate this?

I tried to relax my thoughts. I turned my head towards his neck, and rested my chin on his shoulder. He smelled faintly like cologne. I wonder if he ever used the American stuff, I think it was called AXE or something. But either way, I really wanted bury myself in it. Wait, was he wearing a shirt? Was he wearing pants? Another small part of me wanted him to not, since he was a sexy beast, but I tried to shove those perverted thoughts down.

How long we were there, I don't know. But after what felt like a long while, I finally moved. The small part that wanted to get in his blankets with him was persistant, and I saw no harm in it. I pulled the covers next to him down, and climbed under them. As soon as I put the blanket on my shoulders, Kyouya finally spoke.

"What are you doing?"

"I wanna. Now hush up" I said as I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested the side of my head on his chest, which was bare, by the way. I could tell he was wearing pajama pants, but he was obviously not wearing a shirt. He was really warm.

I felt his arm go around my shoulders, and his finger started to trace invisible patterns on my shirt. I clutched him tighter. He was so close to me already, but not in the way I craved. I wanted him so much. I wanted him more than I needed air. It was driving me insane. His smell was making me dizzy. Why did I ever decide that it would be a good idea to say I'm gay? I wanted him enough that it was making my head explode time and time again.

But what does he feel? I have no way of knowing what's really going on in his head. Even I, his best friend, don't always know what going on in the gears called his head. He's always there for me, ready to support me when I need him, but what is he feeling?

"What do you think of me?"

The words were out of my mouth before I could put the filter in between my brain and my mouth. Sht, what would he think of that? My brain now decided to remember last night where he may or may not have said something that sounded like 'I love you.' I blushed.

He turned his eyes looked into mine. He smiled. "I think you're smart, wonderful, strong, incredibly fun, honest, kind, gentle, and lastly, breathtakingly beautiful."

Kyouya reached his hand that wasn't around my shoulders towards my face. His dark eyes seemed black with an emotion I couldn't pinpoint. His thumb brushed over my cheek, leaving a hot trail on my skin. I inched my face closer to his. I wanted to kiss him so badly right now. It may just be my imagination, but I think he was closing his eyes slowly and leaning closer to me.

Kyouya's POV

She was literally in my bed, and as if that wasn't causing my hormones to go crazy, her face was less than inches from mine. I was cursing my stupidity in telling her exactly how wonderful she was, but she looked like that made her happy. Sht, I wanted to kiss her. My brain now decided to remember the dream where she was making out with me. I blushed.

I reached my hand out, and touched her beautiful face. Gd, she was so pretty. Her skin was pale, and flawless. I want to kiss every inch of it. I felt myself getting closer to Candi's lips, and the closer I got, the more I wanted to kiss her. The desire was almost violent within my mind. Would it finally go out of control here and now?

A knocked sounded on my door. I snapped my head back, and cleared my throat. Whoever was there, they better have a good reason for choosing this moment to knock. "Yes?" I asked as calmly as I could manage. I think I finally tamed the monster inside me that wanted her here and now. How on earth could I want her this much but not be able to really love her? The entire idea was infuriating.

"Master Kyouya, you're friend Tamaki is here" the voice of one of my maids said outside the door. I let myself growl very, very quietly. Tamaki.

"Tell him I'll be down in less than 10 minutes" I said, again as calmly as I could manage.

"Yes sir" she replied. I heard her walk away. I looked back at Candi, but all I could see was her hair. When did she bury her face into my shoulder?

"Candi?" I whispered. She looked up and smiled kindly.

"I'll go down and talk to him. Maybe I can buy you some time" she said. I smiled, and combed my fingers through her hair.

"Thanks. I need to shower anyways."

She nodded, and climbed out of my bed. Gd, that sounds so wrong. Part of me wished that _that_ really did happen, but I knew she didn't want that. There was a small pang in my heart when I remembered that she would never want me in that way.

I yawned, sat up and stretched. The door closed behind Candi as she left, and I walked over to my bathroom. Being a guy, I didn't take long in the shower. It was just a simple matter of putting shampoo in my hair and body wash on the rest of me.

I looked at my clothes in the mirror. Is this something that Candi would approve of? Well, I doubt she would disapprove of anything I wear, but I couldn't find anything that would make her think twice about being gay. However, this was taking too long. My floor was covered in clothes. The v-neck I tried on seemed to not fit right. The color of the flannel shirt was too dark for the jeans I decided on. Gd, Candi has me acting like Hikaru and Kaoru.

There was a white t-shirt with random gray lines on it that I finally decided on. It didn't seem perfect, but I was definitely taking too long to try on anything else. I shook my head at myself. I was a mess.

Tamaki's POV

For some reason, it was Candi who came downstairs and began talking to me. Thoughts were racing through my head like: did she stay over night? What was she doing with Kyouya in his room? Does his dad know how close they are?

"So what did you come over here for?" she asked first.

"Oh, uh" I said, blanking out on the reason I came over. I tried to remember as best as I could. Why was I here? "Oh yea… I think the Host club is coming to an end, and I wanted to talk about it with Kyouya."

"Seriously?" Candi asked, surprised. "How come?"

I sat down, and there was a dark cloud of despair over me. I didn't want to think about it. "Haruhi and Hikaru are dating each other, Kaoru can't be on his own, Mori and Honey are going to college and…"

I had to stop myself before I said it out loud. No, I would have to talk about it with Kyouya only. Candi was her sister.

"And what?" Candi asked, confused.

"It's nothing" I said a little too hurriedly. Candi sat down across from me, and looked at me with curiosity. Then she shrugged.

"If you say so. Are we really ending the Host Club?"

"Yea. It's the best time to end it, since school ends after exams. We'll throw a final ball after the last day of exams, so we only have 10 days to plan it."

Candi paused, thinking. "So if I'm dancing, I'm doing the guy part?"

I began to pace. Yes, indeed, Candi would have difficulty being a part of the classical ballroom dancing. I would also have to talk about that with Kyouya.

As if on cue, Kyouya came downstairs, scrubbing his hair with a towel. He was wearing casual clothes, so I guessed that his father was at work today. "Hello" Kyouya said, sitting down next to Candi on the couch. His arm was around the couch behind Candi. She looked indifferent.

Instead of wondering what to do about the ball, I wondered what kind of relationship these two had. They were definitely best of friends, but they spent more time together than should be natural for just friends. And they were close, almost always in physical contact with each other. And there have been occasions where I've seen either Kyouya or Candi blush while the other was around.

But Candi said she was gay! She was completely fine with flirting with girls! It made no sense whatso-freaking-ever! Maybe Candi liked both guys and girls. The idea of her dating an actual guy puzzled me. Kyouya? Did she like him? That would be so weird. In the long run, Kyouya and I would be related in a way. We'd be married to th-

I blushed, and inwardly smacked myself. I was getting carried away. I was probably just interpreting the details incorrectly. I took a deep breath, then realized they were both watching me.

"Ah…" was all I could say. My imagination decided to give me an idea of the kinds of kids they would have. Girls with black hair and boys with auburn hair, all wearing glasses,-

"So what are you here for?" Kyouya asked calmly. I was starting to feel like my head was exploding.

"Anehjesnci" was akin to the gibberish I just said.

Kyouya looked at Candi, who was also confused at me. "I don't know what that means, but he said something earlier like he wanted to end the Host Club."

"Ah, yes!" I said smiling, and standing straight. "Hikaru and Haruhi are dating, so they want to leave. Kaoru can't be alone. Mori and Honey are going to college, so there wouldn't be a whole lot of business left."

He nodded in understanding. I wonder why he wasn't confused like Candi was. He's been a lot less professional since he became close with Candi. Now that I think about it, he's been happier. His coldly professional face was seen less and less, and smiles were often happening around Candi.

I shook my head. Again, I was jumping to conclusions.

"I see your reasoning. Plus, you and I will have to prepare for college entrance exams, and the stakes are higher for us. We're sons of very important people."

"I was thinking we could have a ball the day that exams end" I said hurriedly. Kyouya did seem slightly sad. I looked at Candi, and she… had fallen asleep.

I cleared my throat, but Candi's lolled head was just so random it was funny. I couldn't keep the straight face for long, and I burst into maniacal laughter. Holy crap, it was like she was awake one second and asleep the next. That is a skill indeed. And when did she fall asleep? Was is while Kyouya was talking?

I finally calmed down a little, and opened my eyes to see Kyouya gazing at Candi. There was a faint smile on his face, and it was more genuine than I had ever seen him smile before.

"She was up late last night" he said with affection in his tone. I don't know if he was even talking to me. His voice was kind of nostalgic, and that's when I saw it. For once, I was actually aware of what was going on around me. Kyouya actually loved Candi.

Kyouya put his arms under her knees and shoulders, and carried her away. "I'm going to put her in bed, and I'll be right back!" he called over his shoulder.

Yea. The Old Kyouya would never do that. He's in love.

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**Reviews are always welcome, so go ahead and do so. Right now. Seriously guys, do.**

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	16. Chapter 16: What the Pho?

Chapter 16: What the Pho?

Jessica's POV

I was hiding in my room, staring at the ceiling. My Chameleon rang with a phone call, but I instantly rejected it. I don't even recognize the name. I glanced at the time, and it was 2 pm. Candi left in a hurry at around 9 this morning to go to Kyouya's house. There was a small pang in my heart. Kyouya. The only one who would ever be able to make Candi happy. Why doesn't she just marry him already?

The doorbell rang. I wonder who it was. Maybe Candi was finally back from his house. But in that case, she wouldn't ring the doorbell. But maybe she just forgot the passcode to get into our garage. However, it's not like her to forget things, even if the information is not on demand. Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to go into my elevator to see who it was. I sneaked onto the balcony, and peeked over the edge to see Helga letting Kyouya, Candi and Tamaki in. Kyouya was carrying Candi, and she was asleep. I pursed my lips, and went back into my elevator.

"Oh, Jessica!" Tamaki called when I was about to step into my elevator. Crap, should I go in or not? I wanted to just stay in my room, but that would be rude. On the other hand, I would also avoid having to talk to Tamaki, who saw my embarrassing moment of weakness.

I decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to try to face them, so I stepped into my elevator, the door closing behind me soon afterwards. I took a deep breath.

The elevator pinged, and I went straight to my bed, collapsing into the soft covers. I need to study for finals. Maybe I could do that to get my mind off of all this. I sat down at my desk, my textbooks and notebooks all in front of me. I pursed my lips. I haven't been doing my homework lately, so I don't really know what we are supposed to be studying. I sighed, and decided to think about that tomorrow.

The elevator buzzed, which meant someone wanted to talk to me before they came into my room. "Jessica?" Tamaki's voice asked. I sighed.

"Go away!" I called.

"I just wanted to know if you were okay. I'm here if you want to talk."

I was surprised at the kindness he was showing me. I think maybe there was some pink hinted in between my freckles. "I'm fine" I said curtly. I wasn't sure if I was ready to handle people again. Come to think of it, Tamaki has been spending more time with Candi than I have been lately. I frowned.

"Well, I uh… I want you to be happy, so you can always give me a call when you want to talk."

"Thank you" I said softly. There was a short buzz that ended the conversation, and I faced my homework again.

How the fck was I supposed to do homework now?

Candi's POV

I remembered falling asleep in Kyouya's house, and I woke up in my house. I remembered deciding to go on a walk. I remembered the short walk becoming a long walk. I remembered walking into downtown Tokyo. I did not, however, know how on earth I ended up in a hot and sweaty club, downing vodka with people cheering for me.

I held the cold glass in my hand, and was suddenly hyper-aware of my surroundings. How the HLL did I end up here? I racked my brain and searched around the room for answers, but it was like trying to sail in absolute fog. It's was a difficult endeavor, and I just gave up. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my Chameleon. It was really hot, so I decided to get out of there. Wait, did I have to pay money? Did I already pay money?

The more questions I had, the more my head hurt, so I walked faster out the club. Wait… the exit sign I was heading towards was actually the men's bathroom. What kind of a place is this?

Shoot, another question. More pressure was applied to my head. I made the exact same mistake again in wondering where the actual exit was.

I shoved myself through many dancing bodies of people as I found another door. This exit sign was weird. There were two really close together. I rubbed my eyes, then I realized I was seeing double. I laughed as I missed the doorknob I was trying to grip. I looked again at my weird phone thingy. I think I need a ride home, so who should I call? What time was it?

The words were difficult to read, but I managed to find a name. Hm… the kanji was difficult extremely difficult to read. I think I read Ooangi Kyouma or something. I pressed dial, since I didn't feel like trying to read any other names. Kanji was stupid.

"Candi? Where the hll are you? It's 2 in the morning, and we're all searching for you!"

I giggled. "Kyou-chaaaan! Don't be so worried" I said, my words slurred.

"Candi, WHERE ARE YOU?" His voice was demanding. For some reason, I felt like I had to listen to him, even if I didn't want to.

"I'm somewhere downtown, I think" I said, now finding streets with cars.

"Are you drunk?"

"Yea, I think" I said, laughing. I stumbled, but there was thankfully a bench next to a park. I sat down. "Hey, there's this garden, and I'm sitting next to it, if that helps."

My hip hit the metal armrest. I think I was swaying. How much alcohol did I just consume? Well, I am a little lighter than I look, and I'm a female, so alcohol affects me more, I think. And I don't think I've ever drunk a drop in my life until now. I dropped my Chameleon, and it fell into my lap. The fog in my brain was infuriating. My body swayed back, and my body shut down.

I want my Kyouya.

Kyouya's POV

Sht. Fck. Dmmit. Every swear word I've ever learned was coming to my head, forming obscene sentences. I was downtown already, thank whatever God there was in heaven. But trying to find 'a garden' was a little bit too general. And Candi wasn't answering her phone.

I growled in aggravation at a stop light. Trying to not explode while I'm driving, I looked off to the side. There were many people on the street who looked impressed with my car. My family does have more money than everyone on the street combined, but I was too angry. I glanced behind then, seeing trees. But then I saw a head of long auburn hair.

I cut across two lanes of traffic to turn right, and parked my car as close as I could. I locked the doors, and ran to where I saw her. A small part of me was coming up with all the things that could happen to her in between me seeing her and getting to her. Someone decided to kidnap her, then do horrible things to her and demand ransom. She woke up and decided to wander around more. Please let her be fine.

Finally, I got to the bench. Her head was lolled back, and she was asleep. Wait, if she was drunk, falling asleep could be dangerous. I checked her heart rate at her neck after sitting down next to her. I quickly found it, and it was a little faster than a normal heart rate. Still, that was acceptable. Her body is probably trying to get the alcohol out of her system.

I sighed in relief, and put my arm around her. I was so tired right now. I had been called around 9 by a panicked Kris and Colby, and they had been searching for her for a couple hours already. Remembering the rest of her family, I called their home phone. Jessica answered before the first ring.

"Kyouya? Did you find her?" she asked hurriedly.

"Yes. She's in downtown Tokyo. She's sleeping off some alcohol she had, but she's fine."

Jessica said some words in a language I think was Chinese. Her tone sounded relieved. "Thank you, Kyouya."

"It's my pleasure" I said, stroking Candi's head and smiling at her sleeping form.

"Are you just saying that because it's certain that I'm inheriting Shadburn Tech?"

This question surprised me. Her tone was also doubtful. I wasn't sure how to respond. I was doing it because I cared about Candi a lot. Some might say a little too much, but it's the honest truth. "No. I'm saying that because I want Candi with me for the rest of my life." I decided to hang up. I looked at Candi again, and she seemed to be stirring.

"Kyou?" she said in a heavily slurred voice. She lurched forward, and turned her face towards me. Her eyes struggled to stay open, but she smiled.

"How do you feel?" I asked. There's a safe question for a drunken Candi.

"I want to strip you down, throw you onto my bed and fck you right now" she said, her face turned every bit as serious as her tone. My eyes widened and I felt my gut drop. I shifted in my seat. She's definitely drunk, but what inspired this statement? It seemed like a dream, almost. Maybe I am dreaming. Last time I dreamt along these lines, she was just as aggressive.

"Candi, you-"

"I'm what, Kyouya?" she said, putting her hand on my cheek and pulling my face towards hers. I stopped her, by putting my hands on her shoulders. She raised her eyebrows.

"You're gay" I stated. It was a fact, and it's never been a secret.

"Nope!" she said with a half grin. "I'm crazy in love with you!"

What is going on?

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**Hey. School is going to get in the way of a lot of stuff I'm doing, so please keep reviewing, since that always gives me motivation when I've actually got the time and energy. Thank you!**


	17. Chapter 17: Sorry Sorry Sorry

**Heyya! In case yals haven't noticed already, I don't type out the first vowel in each swear word. This is because I don't cuss in my normal language, but I do want to add seriousness to some of the sentences in my writing. I found this to be a good compromise that will keep me from swearing out loud. Thanks!**

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Chapter 17: Sorry Sorry Sorry

Jessica's POV

I pondered my recent conversation with Kyouya. When he was being all nice and such, my jealousy and hate towards him slipped out in just the slightest. I have no clue where my brain got the words 'because I'm inheriting Shadburn Tech', but I guess other people could understand that reasoning. I hated the fake politeness that he showed me over the phone. It felt like he was just faking his friendship with Candi. I guess my brain came up with its own conclusion of 'we're powerful, and he wants in on the benefits'.

'I'm saying that because I want Candi with me for the rest of my life'. I smiled when I remembered his tone at saying that. He sounded determined. And by his choice of words, it sounds like he loves her, and enough to get married. I tried to analyze and gather all the facts I knew in my mind.

Candi is 'gay', but she definitely can't live without Kyouya. Kyouya loves Candi a lot a lot, and would like to spend the rest of his life with her. He can definitely take care of her, and I can trust her to Kyouya. Helena is no longer a threat. Mom and Dad have no objections to her intimate friendship with Kyouya. Tamaki and his friends have all accepted the fact that Kyouya is the only one who can help her at this point.

My eyes widened when I realized the path my mind was taking me on. I was caught up in this depression which gave the paradigm that 'Kyouya is not worthy of Candi'. I was the one who needed to let her go.

I laid down on top of my bed, and stared at the ceiling in shock.

A tear leaked out of my eye, and I shook my head.

"Candi" I whispered, turning over onto my stomach. I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. You're free now."

Just saying the words released the stress I could feel deep in my bones. The relief was so relaxing, I felt myself drift off into sleep.

Oh yea. My exams start tomorrow. Well, 2:14 isn't too bad a time to get to sleep.

Tamaki's POV

I tried to relax, and go to sleep, but I feel like I should be with Jessica right now. She's going through so much stress and feeling so helpless, and I can't do a thing except be there for her. But doing that now would be a little over-the-top and creepy. It's 2:12 am.

My brain decided to ask me 'With or without clothes?'

Well of course without clothes! I mean- with! I blushed, and turned over for the millionth time in my bed. I felt so attached to her for some reason, and I really wanted her to be happy.

'Duh. It's called love, Dr. Genius.'

Blushing, I again turned over in my bed. My clock in that instant turned to 2:15. I felt a calming feeling come over me. It felt like Jessica was just fine, and she was going to be alright. Why I felt this, I don't know, but I smiled and my mind pulled me into sleep.

Kyouya's POV

I tried to calm my blushing face. Candi was 'crazy in love' with me. ME. She's not gay. She was lying all this time?

"Just how much alcohol did you drink?" I asked, watching her from the corner of my eye.

"Enough" she said giggling. I tried to calm my pounding heart. She's drunk, and I'm her best friend, so she's interpreting some of her feelings to mean that she loves me. I calmed down at discerning a reasonable explanation. I stood up, and pulled her into a standing position. She stumbled, and I gripped her shoulder. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

She waved her hand at me, smiling faintly. I sighed, and pulled her onto my back.

"Kyouya, I want you" Candi murmured in my ear. Her arms wrapped around my shoulders as I carried her to my car. I tried to ignore it, but that statement in that tone in that way sent a shiver down my spine. She's drunk, she's drunk.

"Candi, you should calm down before you do something stupid" I said back. I opened the passenger door of my car, and put her in. I tried not to close the door too loudly, since drunken people probably have sensitive hearing. I quietly got in my car and turned it on.

"I'm serious Kyouya!" Candi said, reaching over and twining her fingers in my hair. I gulped, and stared at her.

"No, you're drunk" I replied as calmly as I could manage with the feel of her fingers tickling my scalp.

"Alcohol sometimes brings out honest feelings" she replied, coming closer to me. I remembered the first time I kissed her, when she was sick because of blood loss. It was just a kiss on the forehead, but now I was starting to want more. Her lips, her hair, her body, her body on mine… The internal struggle was making my head hurt.

'SHE'S GAY! SHE'S DRUNK!' my brain screamed. The rest of me didn't want to listen. Candi was very close now, just barely more than an inch. Being this close to her, I could figure out that she always smelled of mango. I want those lips on mine, and my brain was starting to become less of an important factor in that idea. Her beautiful turquoise eyes shut slowly, and I could feel my mouth come closer to hers with my eyes closing as well.

It was like the calm before the storm in that single second. When I could feel those sweet lips of hers on mine, I exploded. It was like there was a bomb placed right where my heart was, and it went off right when we kissed.

The thoughts in my head suddenly because incredibly hyper when her hands rested on my neck and her thumbs were lightly stroking my cheek. I could smell her sweet shampoo, taste the mango caked on her lips. The feel of her soft fingers on my jaw was leaving goosebumbs behind wherever she touched. Her soft lips were like ecstasy. Her hair lightly brushed my forehead, and it tickled. The soft skin of her face touched mine in a few places, and it was almost calming and exciting at the same time.

I slowly brought my hand up to her face. This was actually difficult to do, since my eyes were closed, but I finally reached the bottom of her long, slender neck. Her collarbone was touching my pinkie, and I stopped trying to touch her face. That very bone was fascinating my senses, and I let my fingers lightly trail along it.

Candi backed away from the kiss by less than an inch, and took a shuddery breath. She looked at me, and I opened my eyes to look at her. There was only a faint buzz of alcohol in her eyes, and she looked very serious.

I gravely realized the decision we both had to make. Should we continue, as my body REALLY wanted to, then there was no going back. She had been just drunk enough to get away with that last one, but now the alcohol was gone. I didn't want to lose her, and it felt like it was likely to happen should we cross that last boundary.

Candi's POV

I don't know what I had been doing as my mind was still trying to find it's way out of the fog. I heard a car door close, and Kyouya's voice said 'No, your drunk'. At least I'm in safe hands.

But when I felt myself kiss Kyouya, the fog was instantly gone. I was shocked, happy, exited, and confused all at once. Why was I kissing him in his car? Did he love me just as much as I loved him? Is he really kissing me because he wants to? Or is he just going with it to make sure I don't get upset?

I was about to break away, then I felt his long fingers brush my neck, and his pinkie rested on my collarbone. The nerves that felt his touch suddenly became extremely sensitive. I could feel the faint heartbeat in his fingers. Or was that just my heartbeat? I closed my eyes again, enjoying the feeling I was getting.

When Kyouya's fingers lightly trailed along my collarbone, it took all I had to keep from moaning. Dmmit, I wanted more and I wanted him to stop all at the same time. I gulped, and pulled away from him. We could easily continue, but then we would no longer be just friends. Opening my eyes, I looked at him. He looked concerned. I wonder if he realized the same decision that we would both have to face.

I examined his eyes, and could see his mind working. If he was thinking about too, then I would to think just as much. My mind was still muggy, but I knew what I wanted. I was too in love with him to be just his friend. Was he just as crazy as me? However, I didn't want him to feel like he had to do anything. If he wanted to cross and burn that bridge, he would have to want to.

"Kyouya-" I began.

"I love you, Candi" Kyouya said, interrupting me. His long fingers twined themselves in my hair, and he put his forehead to mine. I was too shocked to really do anything, so I was staring at him with wide eyes at this point. "I love you with everything I am."

This moment felt almost too cheesy to be real. I didn't care, though, since I was basically receiving a green light to go ahead and make out with him, something I've wanted for a long time.

Before I could do anything, however, I felt Kyouya kiss me again. Man, we were kissing a lot. I smiled as I wrapped my arms around his neck, and pulled him closer. His smell, his taste, his feel, his everything was almost getting me drunk all over again. I felt Kyouya's smile against my lips, and he comfortably wrapped his arms around my waist. I could feel myself slowly leaning back, bringing him with me.

I shifted my legs to better face him. I was really starting to lean back now. Something entered into my mouth, which I think was Kyouya's tongue. He pushed against me as he shifted his legs to better face me as well. The bottom of my neck hit the handle of the passenger side door, and I tried to move my head away from it. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world.

When I was in a more comfortable position, Kyouya broke the contact of our lips. I inhaled deeply. Seems I had forgotten to breathe. I looked at him for the slightest second, and realized that he was officially on top of me. Holy sht…

I closed my eyes, and extended my neck to kiss him again. Kyouya responded very aggressively by pushing my head back to the seat, and I felt his hands move from the hug he had been giving me earlier. He shifted them from under my back, and his elbows were now propping his torso up. The tips of his fingers delicately stroked along the edge of my face.

Then I remembered my hands. What was I supposed to do with them? I took them from around his neck and put one in his hair and the other on the edge of his face. My pinkie touched his collarbone, and I decided to let that hand feel those sexy collarbones. How on earth could he be this hot and in love with me?

Kyouya once again broke the contact of our lips and took my hand, now at his shoulder, in his. I opened my eyes to see what he would do.

"How on earth can you possibly be so beautiful?" he murmured with his eyes closed, kissing my palm. I closed my eyes as the exhilarating shiver ran up and down my spine. I looked at him again, and noticed he had lost his glasses. When did that happen?

He brought my hand away from his face, and my fingers naturally bent. He was still holding my wrist as he kissed the fingernail on my pinkie. Then my ring finger. Then my middle finger. When I felt his lips touch my pointer finger, I could feel him gulp. I squeezed my eyes shut, and relished the feeling that I was getting from all this. It was like we both were holding in our true emotions, and it all exploded just now.

I stretched my fingers to touch his face, but he apparently wasn't done. I felt his lips kiss the pads of each of my fingers. After finally feeling him kiss my thumb and release my hand, I put it on the back of his head and pulled his face towards mine. I quickly resumed kissing him, and took a turn putting my tongue in his mouth. I could feel his tongue wrestle with mine, but I fought back. It was my turn, and he already had his. I think he decided to busy himself by putting his hand on my ribcage and feeling every detail.

After a minute or so, I think we both needed oxygen once more. He and I separated about an inch, both breathing hard. I was still trying to catch my breath again when Kyouya leaned forward once more. But he wasn't going to kiss my lips. No, he was going… lower?!

My breath stuttered when Kyouya's lips pressed right under my jaw. It took mental effort to breathe when he kissed an inch lower on my neck. I tilted my head back to allow him better access to my skin. He kissed lower again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

He was soon at the bottom of my neck, and he kissed along my collarbone. This was throwing all kinds of feelings all over my body, and I squirmed slightly.

"Dmn sports bra" he murmured when he was close to my shoulder. I shuddered at his tone. If there was any word to describe it, it would be desire. He took a hand away from my side, and pulled the strap to my bra towards my neck, and he kissed the exposed skin.

I grinned, getting an idea. He finished by kissing my shoulder, of which he had to push aside the loose sleeve of my shirt. I then pulled myself on top of him, and he looked up at me with curiosity. He chuckled, and was close to laughing when I undid his first two buttons of his shirt. Now his entire chest was exposed, and I leaned down and kissed the space between his collarbones.

He shuddered as I kissed lower. And lower. And lower.

"Candi" he moaned. I smiled, and licked his sternum.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Did you always love me this much?"

"Close to forever" I murmured. My muscles ached, and I rested my head on his chest, and relaxed my body into his. He seemed to be equally tired, since he didn't do anything. I felt his fingers comb my hair. I closed my eyes, and breathed his smell.

I felt him kiss the crown of my head, and I smiled. I felt and heard his heart beat. I wonder if he heard mine. I was actually WITH Kyouya like this right now, and that combined with the 'exercise' I just had were raising my heart rate.

"Kyouya, I want us to go back to the way we were before" I said out loud.

I could hear his breath catch. "What?" he asked, surprised.

"I mean," I said urgently, realizing just how bad the sounded. It was the opposite of what I was feeling. "I want us to act like before, just with more kissing."

Kyouya smiled, and I heard his laugh a little in relief. He inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Yes, that I think I can do."

"Thank you" I said, putting my arms around his waist. I smiled as I sighed.

It's about dmn time that I can comfortably kiss him.

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**About time, right?**


	18. Chapter 18: Do It With Style

Chapter 18: Do It With Style

Kyouya's POV

I stared at the wall while I listened to Tamaki talk nonstop about the ball he had been planning. Instead of listening to his ideas, I tried to come up with some numbers that would help guess how much this ball would cost. When his voice went silent, I pulled my Chameleon away from my face and checked to be sure he was still there. The screen lit up, and told me he was still on the line.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Kyouya, have you even been listening?!" he screamed in my ear. I sighed.

"No. What is the theme going to be?"

"I don't know, that's what I asked you about!"

I sighed again. "I'll call Candi and get her in on the brainstorming."

Tamaki began to jabber away as I dialed her number and conference-d her in. She didn't answer until what I thought would be the last ring.

"Hello?" she asked in a flat voice. I quickly looked at my clock, and realized it was actually 10. She must have just woken up.

"Hey, it's Kyouya and Tamaki" I explained. "We're trying to come up with ideas for the end-of-the-year ball we're having. Do you have any ideas?"

"Uh…" she croaked. "I don't know. Think of some gay sht and fck it up enough to be good for girls."

"Candi!" Tamaki screamed while I chuckled as her use of curse words.

"Loud" Candi complained. "Shut the fcking hll up Tamaki, you btch cunt."

"Cand-!"

"Tamaki, just ignore it for once!" I said loudly before Tamaki could chastise Candi. "The ball. What should we do for a theme?"

"We need something meaningful" Tamaki said.

"Happily fcking ever after? That sht might fcking work" Candi offered.

"GENIUS!" Tamaki screamed.

"Fcktard, SHUT IT!" Candi yelled. He was quiet. I sighed at the conversation, but Candi's idea was pretty good. Just without the fcking.

"That is indeed a good idea Candi. The timing is right, the ladies will love it, and it won't be too expensive."

"You're dmn right it fcking is" she said, yawning immediately afterwards.

"Do you always swear this much in the mornings?"

"When I'm alone, yes. Crap, Jessica is coming up in my elevator. I gotta go. Bye Tamaki. Love you, Kyouya."

"You too" I said before she hung up.

"WHAT?!" Tamaki then screamed.

"What do you mean, what?" I asked, switched my Chameleon to my other ear, as the current one was beginning to go deaf.

"WHY DID YOU GUYS SAY 'I LOVE YOU' TO EACH OTHER?!"

"You needn't be so loud" I said. "Because we're dating."

I was expecting him to scream his head off, but he was silent. "Really?"

"Yea" I replied.

"So you really do love her." He said this more like a fact than a question.

"Yea" I replied, unsure of what else to say. There was a silence for a minute.

"How did you do it?" he asked me suddenly.

"What?" I asked, confused as to what he meant.

"How on earth did you go from being friends to dating?" he clarified.

"Oh…" How was I supposed to phrase what happened the other night? "She was drunk, and said she loved me too."

"Ah…" was his reaction. I know Tamaki well enough to tell that he was thinking seriously about something. If he was actually thinking, then it was important for him to not be disturbed for a little while. "What do you think I should do if I, say, have a… certain liking of a girl and want to be dating her?"

I smiled to myself. So Tamaki had a crush on a girl. That would explain the increase of serious moments displayed in his behavior. "Just start with asking for opportunities to spend more time with her."

"Okay. I need to go now" he said quickly. He then hung up. I chuckled to myself, then began to organize this ball Tamaki really wanted to have. My mind wandered while I typed in numbers into my Chameleon and searched for items on the internet. Tamaki wanted to have everyone bring a date so as to not make some of the girls feel lonely, but dates weren't required. So that means I could take Candi…

I stopped typing. Me. Taking Candi to the ball. How would I ask her? Would she even want to go to the ball, let alone with me? Darn it, why didn't I ask Tamaki this while he was still on the phone. But what should I do?

Then I remembered the Chameleon in my hands. The Internet. It certainly must know something about ways to ask a girl to a dance. I searched the keywords 'how to ask a girl to a dance', and searched. After 15 minutes of searching, I had a mental list of how to ask her.

I could get down on one knee and ask her, as if I was asking her to marry me. I could sneak into her room and fill it with balloons, each holding one letter to the message 'Final Ball? –Kyouya', which would be fun to videotape. There were other ideas, but they were too extravagant, too lame or simply something that I would not be able to do without shattering the image that I've constructed for the public. I frowned.

Either way, she'd be asked privately, so there wouldn't be too much of a show. When the Host Club plans the ball, I could ask her to stay afterwards, then ask her on my knee. Or I could arrange to have the balloons set up while we're in school. Candi might think it a little more romantic if I do the on-the-knee asking her. On-the-knee would actually be asking her in person, so that might work out a little bit better.

Well, I think that On-The-Knee might be the best method. Now it was time to plan the finer details…

Tamaki's POV

I passed back and forth in my room. Jessica's number had already been dialed on my Chameleon, and it was just a matter of pressing the call button. Kyouya said that spending more time with her might help me cross over from friend to dating. I still wondered how much of a risk of failure this had. I really do like her, but…

Antoinette barked outside my door, and my finger tapped the Chameleon screen when I jumped in surprise. My eyes widened with horror when I realized that the phone was calling her now. I was too shocked at my own idiocy to do anything for a moment, but then I heard her answer.

"Hello?"

I fiddled with the phone to get it up to my ear. "Uh… hi Jessica" was I managed to say before my throat closed up with anxiety.

"Hey Tamaki! How are you?" she asked in a bright voice. I could almost hear the smile in her voice. Now my shock turned towards this obvious fact. I remember that she had been very depressed about Candi's problems with her past, but now it seemed like she was happier than Kyouya was dating Candi. Then I remembered a couple nights ago when I had the strangest feeling that Jessica was going to be alright. Maybe that wasn't just me. Oh, crap. I need to say something in reply.

"I'm great! How about you?"

"Wonderful, actually. So what did you wan to talk about?"

"Oh, I just… I was wondering how you were doing. You know, the whole… thing."

"Yea. I feel a lot better now. Thanks for checking on me. I really appreciate it!"

"I'm happy to do it!" I'd better ask now before anxiety took over again. "Hey, I was wondering if you would ever want to, like… hang out or something?"

"Oh… yea! That sounds like a lot of fun!" After the 'oh', her voice sounded energetic and happy. "If you want to, you can come over to my house now. I mean… well, I don't know your parents yet, but if they're real freaky over things like this…" she trailed off.

"No, it's no problem. I'll come over now. I'm done studying for the day, and our finals still aren't for another few days." I could feel myself begin to get off topic, but if she wanted to keep talking and just go with it, then that was alright.

"Yea, my finals started yesterday. I've studied enough in the past that I don't really need to do anything." She laughed.

"What are you getting your degree in?" I listened while I fixed my problem of 'no pants'.

"I'm getting a Business degree and a degree in Computer Technology. What are you planning on getting your degree in?"

"I'm just aiming for a Business Degree." I checked my image in the mirror to be sure that I was not looking like barf. Once I finished examining myself, I walked out the door to my bedroom. "Hey, I'm heading to the limo. I'll talk to you in a bit!"

"Alright! Bye!"

"Bye!" I hung up the phone, and dashed to my limo. I took a deep breath after telling the chauffeur where I wanted to go. I felt the anxiety come back in full force, and I began almost shaking. I held my Chameleon in my hand, and stared at it. After another few deep breaths, my body finally calmed down. My mind, however, was racing. I should have invited Kyouya to come along so that he and Candi could help relieve any sort of awkward atmosphere I might have with Jessica. Then again, since they're officially dating, that might make it even more awkward. Well, too late now.

Jessica's POV

I took a deep breath. Tamaki was coming over, but that didn't mean anything. He just wanted to hang out. I admit, I had been missing Tamaki. He was supportive, fun, and a real big gentleman. Then again, he and his Man-Whore club were basically paid to be gentlemen. And he was insane by nature.

Suddenly, I realized that I hadn't showered yet today. I picked up a lock of my hair, and saw how greasy it was. I swore in Tagalog, and dashed to my bathroom. I didn't even wait for the water to warm up before I was washing my hair like crazy. I didn't know where Tamaki lived, but I imagine it doesn't take him long to get where he wants to go. I must've finished my shower in record time, but I wouldn't have known since I had to dash to my closet.

Crap. Should I care about what I wear because he's Tamaki, or should I not care because he's Tamaki? He might think I'm ugly if I don't care, but he's too much of a gentleman to say it. Maybe I could wear stylish lazy clothes, kind of like what Candi wears. But Candi is gay. I chuckled at the idea, since it was still strange to think of her as a lesbian, but I shook my head. I probably didn't have enough time to consider anything else, I just grabbed a pair of black sweats and a thick cotton shirt. When I realized that about an inch of my waist was revealed due to the shortness of my shirt, I heard the doorbell ring.

I looked in the mirror, and just decided to push back my hair. I cursed at it. I always had my hair straightened, but it was in its natural wavy state. Why did this have to happen to me?

I ran to my elevator, and it pinged when it opened. As the doors opened, I saw Tamaki. He looked like he was about to press the button to get to my room. I was surprised. He looked equally surprised, and then I noticed what he was wearing. Dark jeans, white long-sleeved t-shirt with a black vest. Oh holy fck, he looked hot. And here I was in all my pajama glory.

"Uh… hi!" I said, smiling, trying my best to get over my shock. Tamaki was staring at me in surprise.

"Hey! How are you?"

"Awesome" I said, smiling more. I walked out, and Tamaki followed me downstairs. "And you?"

"Fairly good. What should we do?"

I looked at him seriously, and then broke out into a huge grin with the perfect idea. "Hide and seek tag."

"What's that?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"You hide, and when I find you, you have to run to base."

His face lit up in excitement. "THAT'S AWESOME! So what's base?"

"Hm…" I looked around the open space of our house. Then I looked back at him, and saw the perfect spot. "The elevators!"

"Perfect! How long does one count for?"

I giggled, and covered my eyes. "1…2…3…4…"

I heard him say "Crap" before hearing him run off. I hopped up and down in excitement. I was planning on counting to 30, since this is a big house with a surprisingly little amount of places to hide. I tried to run through where the spots I knew were. Under the counter in the kitchen, behind some of the doors, behind some of the couches, and if he was good, in the forest in our backyard. I can't think of anywhere else he could have gone without him using an elevator.

"READY OR NOT, HERE I COME, MOTHERFCKER!" I yelled at the top of my lung.

"Goodness gracious, dearie" Helga said, walking by. "Ye don't need to blow out the eardrums of everyone in the vicinity!"

"Sorry!" I said, smiling and running off.

After what felt like hours of searching, probably only 10 minutes, I still could not find Tamaki. He wasn't in the kitchen, living room, anywhere I could find outside, or on base. I stood at the door to my house, scratching my head. The short hallways limited my field of vision slightly, so I stepped forward to get a better look at the living area. However, I tripped over someone's shoes, and reached out my hand towards the solid wall.

But my hand caught something. I steadied myself with it, and then tried to figure out what it was. Then I realized; it was a door handle. I opened it, and the wind whistled in my ears as Tamaki rushed by. I laughed, and ran after him. It was a straight, clear path to the elevator, but the question was: who was faster at climbing stairs.

I took the stairs two at a time as I chased after him, but he had naturally longer legs. He could take 3 at a time. I missed him by an inch as he slapped the elevator.

"Dmn you!" I said loudly. He started hopping up and down, doing a weird dance and singing a victory song.

"I win~, I win~!" the idiot yelled. I sighed, rolling my eyes. He was soon done.

"Count to 30, btch" I said, running off. He starting counting, and I heard him counting at a really fast pace. Crap. I barely have time to get to the kitchen. I tried my best to quietly get into the right spot and curl up. I pursed my lips as I could hear him walk down the stairs.

Tamaki's POV

I felt uncomfortable when I first saw Jessica in her pajamas, since I had decided on street clothes. But she was really hot- I mean beautiful nonetheless. Her wet, wavy blonde hair was effortlessly pretty, and there was a slight amount of skin showing due to her short shirt. The skin I saw was an even tone and no amount of fat whatsoever. I wonder if I'd ever get to feel that skin…

I shook my head violently as I kept counting. She's hot, yes, but I can't think about her like THAT. As much as I want to, she's much more than her looks. Still, you know a girl is hot when they look sexy in sweats.

But, holy crap, her smile. I can just melt every time I see it. I haven't seen the ray of sunshine that is her smile in quite the long time. I've missed it. Does she know how much more beautiful she is when she's smiling? When I marry her, I will do my best to make her smile every second of every day.

Again, I shook my head violently. I'm way in over my head if I think she's going to want to get married anytime soon. I still don't know that much about her.

"Ready or no-" cue awkward voice crack. "-t, here I come!"

I cleared my throat as I took my time going down the stairs. I don't know this house all that well, so she' definitely has an advantage. I wonder where she could be. Now that I think about it, there weren't a lot of hiding places in this house, since it was such a large, open place. I don't think I counted slowly enough for her to go outside. Hm…

I swear, I looked all over the place. I even tried to get into hers and Candi's rooms, but the elevators were locked. I sat on the staircase finally. I was tempted to call out 'Come out, come out, wherever you are!' when I noticed a door I hadn't seen yet. It was at the bottom of the staircase, and it blended perfectly with the wall. I walked up to it, and saw the handle. Apparently, this was the kind of door that slid to the side.

I walked in, and there was a clean kitchen with not a soul in sight. I checked the large pantry, but saw no one. Hm. This looks like a good hiding spot. I'll have to remember it for next time.

There was a slight sound over on the other side of the kitchen, so I closed the pantry and followed where the sound was. It was on the other side of the center counter…

As I walked by the edge, I heard a scuffing sound and Jessica appeared out of nowhere and bolted towards the door. I smiled, and ran after her. I had a slight advantage with my longer legs, but she was still faster. However, when we came to the stairs, I was quickly gaining on her. Because she was going so fast, she had to take a wide turn to avoid hurting herself. I saw this opportunity to cut in front of her and maybe catch her. I was so close.

I cut in front of her, and she skidded to a stop, just barely keeping from crashing into me. I grinned at my victory when she started to run the other way. Wait… crap, I forgot to tag her. I face-palmed myself inwardly, and chased after her. As I ran, I noticed that there was a door to the right at the very end. This door was just like the kitchen door. She tried to slide it, but I nearly crashed into her.

My hands were on the wall on either side of her head. We were both breathing hard, and I noticed I had naturally leaned forward a bit. My face was level with hers. I was about an inch from touching my lips to hers. I felt my body ache to do just that, and it took way too effort to simply keep myself still. So many thoughts ran through my mind. What is she thinking? Does she want to kiss? Do I really want to kiss? What am I really feeling?

As all these questions raced through my mind, I felt my heart beat faster and faster. I had a feeling it wasn't because of the running. Am I blushing like an idiot? Do I look like an idiot to her? What does she think of me? Arg, I'm taking to long to do anything. Should I kiss her or back off? How would she feel if I kissed her? How would she feel if I backed off? It felt like I couldn't do anything without her implying that she wanted to, but I couldn't get any hints off of her.

Her bright green eyes held some sort of fire in them. I don't know if that strong emotion was anger towards me for being this close, or she really just wanted to kiss me. Sht, for a Host, I'm horrible at discerning emotions.

Jessica's POV

I fcking want to make out the living sht out of him. Right now.


	19. Chapter 19: The Timing

Chapter 19: The Timing

Tamaki's POV

This was all just too complex for me to really make sense of anything, so I was planning on simply backing away and watching her reaction. I was doing that when Jessica put her hands on the sides of my neck and came really close. I looked at her in surprise, and realized that the fire in her green eyes was that of desire. How did I not notice sooner?

Then a second later, I felt her soft lips on mine. It was like electricity shot throughout my entire body, and I was suddenly sensitive to ever feeling I was getting. I closed my eyes to enjoy it all. Her hands on my neck were slightly cold, and almost making me shiver. Some of her hair was wet and some was dry, but both tickled my face. How on earth was she so beautiful?

Half a second later, it was all over. She backed up around a foot from me, disconnecting all physical contact. "Not a soul" she said, pointing at me. I nodded ever so slightly. I didn't want to risk making her upset by telling anyone, but I was jumping for joy on the inside. Jessica. The Jessica. She had some sort of feelings for me, and I can testify to that now. I could still feel a slight layer of wetness on my mouth from that kiss. Dmn, she was a good kisser. I really want more, but I'm not sure what she's thinking at this moment.

Jessica ducked under my arm and bolted towards the elevator. I was still too surprised to do anything. When I looked back at her, she was standing next to the elevator, grinning. Oh… I never actually tagged her. But then… was she just kissing me to win? Or did she feel the same desire I felt? Now the confusion was starting to tear at my confidence. I couldn't see anything past the smugness of her victorious smile, and I'm not even sure if that's a good thing or not.

I heard a loud giggle followed by Kyouya's laugh. Looking over at the front door, I saw Candi and Kyouya taking off their shoes and talking to each other. I walked closer to the stairs, and got a better look at them. They were holding hands.

I glanced at Jessica, and surprise now replaced her expression of victory. She looked at me. Wait, did she not know that they were dating?

"Jessica!" Candi called out. "I forgot to tell you, but Kyouya and I are dating!"

Her surprise doubled. After a second, she grinned. "About fcking time! I'm surprised you two aren't married yet or some sht like that!"

Candi laughed, and Kyouya had an understanding look on his face. Then I saw what he did. Candi got her swearing from Jessica. I wonder where Jessica got it from. I know one of artists she has a poster for, Drake, is a very obscene American singer. Maybe that translates for her into easily.

"So you're not a lesbian?" Jessica asked to clarify. Candi paused in thought, and Kyouya looked interested in this answer.

"As of right now, no." She grinned. Jessica chuckled.

"Well dmn, that would have been nice to know a little sooner. Oh well. Do you want to play hide-and-go-seek-tag with us?!" Jessica asked with excitement. It was almost funny to see how quickly her eyes lit up. I remembered just a minute ago when those eyes held the desire that led her to kiss me. I pursed my lips and remembered how quickly that desire had come and gone. I gave an exasperated sigh.

"Oh holy fck!" Jessica said loudly. However, her voice was excited and happy. I brought myself back to the present. Then I received inspiration for a way to help me figure out Jessica's feelings.

Candi's POV

I had gone over to Kyouya's house this morning out of boredom. He said that his father was having a conference at his home, so it would not be a good time to hang out at his house. However, we could spend time at my house. So a limo ride later, we were walking in. I saw Jessica grinning with her hand on the elevator, and Tamaki looking surprised. I wonder what the context for this situation is.

I noticed when I went to take off my shoes that I had been holding Kyouya's hand the entire time. I smiled to myself. Being around Kyouya was just so natural for me. I loved it. I love Kyouya.

Then I realized that Jessica doesn't know about my new relationship status. I told her, and she replied with her usual curse-heavy language.

"Well, Kyouya is the one for me, so don't try to set me up with anyone" I said, wrapping my arms around his waist. Jessica laughed, and I then just had an arm around him. I could feel the muscles underneath his shirt. Dmn, he's hot. Like, really, really hot. How on earth did I score this good?

"Don't worry. I've been worrying a little more about my life."

"Oh, Candi" Kyouya said spontaneously, turning towards me.

"Yea?"

"Can I ask you a very important question?" he murmured in my ear. My heart sped up as I looked up at him. I nodded.

He got down on one knee, and my mind instantly thought that he was going to ask to marry me. That thought made my heart skip a beat. I tried to calm down though. We're too young to get married, right?

"Will you go with me to the Final Ball?" he asked, holding one of my hands. A smile broke out on my face. I could never have asked for a better way to be asked to a dance.

"A million times yes" I said smiling widely and hugged him around his neck. I could feel him smile, and he stood up. I couldn't stop smiling as he lifted me up and spun me around. The moment was made perfect was he kissed me lightly on my lips.

"Oh holy fck, get a room!" Jessica said loudly. I laughed, and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him more. And just to spite Jessica, I flipped her off. She laughed. Kyouya's arms around my waist were sending shivers up and down my spine every second I kept kissing him.

After the best kiss yet, we finally separated a little. I still had an arm around his waist, and he had one around my shoulder. Come to think about it, this was really our second kiss.

As Jessica would say, oh holy fck.

Kyouya's POV

"And the award to the cheesiest request for a date ever goes to… Kyouya!" Jessica yelled. I smiled, but pulled Candi closer to me.

"I love her more than I care" I said, smiling smugly. Candi laughed.

"I do believe you were just burned" she said to Jessica, laughing. She then pulled me slightly to follow her. "Come on, we'll let these two flirt as much as they want."

"Are you finally getting a room?" Jessica asked. I wonder why she didn't react to that bit about her flirting with Tamaki. Come to think of it, Tamaki said he was in love with a girl, and then I told him to spend more time with said girl, and here he is now. I connected the dots in my mind, and it made sense. Candi did say that Jessica must at least have a crush on Tamaki. I wonder if they're going to start dating at some point.

"Yes!" Candi yelled, answering Jessica. She pulled me along to her elevator, and we got in. We last saw Jessica beginning to talk again to Tamaki. I looked at Candi.

"What exactly are we doing in your room?" I asked as we started going up.

"Something" she said teasingly.

I grinned, and wrapped my arms around her. "You sure you don't want to tell me?"

Watching her face, I saw it slowly turn pink. "Yea. It's kind of supposed to be a surprise."

I immediately thought of making out. I blushed, but thank goodness she wasn't looking at me. Knowing me, I would probably blush more if she- And right now she's looking at me. Crap. I felt my blush double. I tried looking away, but that resulted in her giggling.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked teasingly.

"Nothing" I murmured in reply.

"You sure? It looks like something to me!"

I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. It was hard to avoid her gaze, especially since she was smiling at the same time. I can't cave. "I was thinking about making out with you."

Dmn. I saw the look on her face turn towards devious playfulness. "Well, I guess we'll have to get started."

Candi snaked her arms under my shirt and around my torso. She kissed me with a lot of force. This was happening too quickly for me to get any of my emotions in order. But the one thing that was standing out among the jumble of thoughts in my head was 'go ahead'.

Instinctively, I stepped towards her and pulled her face closer to mine. Candi gave a small breath through her nose as if she was laughing. What on earth was she laughing about?

I didn't care. When I stepped towards her again, her back was now against the wall. My hands lowered to her sides, but then she surprised me by putting her tongue in my mouth. She explored every inch, and it almost tickled. I tried to gain control and have a turn at exploring her mouth, but she wouldn't let me. I noticed that her elevator doors were wide open, so I decided to surprise Candi by relocating our little party.

Candi almost yelped when I wrapped my arms under her butt. I lifted her up, and she clasped her legs around my torso. However, my little surprise attack did not allow me to gain control over the small tongue battle. Dmmit. I was really hoping that would give me at least a small advantage. I walked us over to her large bed. Maybe I'll be able to have more control if I'm on top of her…

Her arms gripped my neck tighter when I let us both fall onto the bed. She finally stopped to breathe, and I was breathing just as hard as her. I forget to breathe every time I kiss her. After a few breaths, I decided I wanted control more than a stable supply of oxygen. "My turn" I said as I leaned back down and kissed her again. Candi let me do exactly to her as she did to me. She gave a slight moan when I brushed my tongue over her molar. The feeling I got from that was almost like excitement, but this kind of excitement was bordering on the sex kind.

The feeling almost lost me the control in the tongue battle, but I loved this way too much. I wonder if we're going to start loosing clothes. I inched my fingers under her shirt, and slowly trailed up farther and farther.

But then Candi yelped, stopping me from blindly exploring her torso. I opened my eyes to look at her, and her eyes were wide with fear. Disconnecting my lips from hers, I tried to figure out what was going on in her head. It was fear and pain, but there was still a hint of the lust we both experienced.

"What's wrong?" I asked, stroking her face.

"He-He-Hele…" she stuttered before trailing off. I realized what she was so scared to talk about then. Helena. My actions must have begun to become similar to hers.

I put my forehead to Candi's. "I'm sorry" I murmured.

Candi shook her head, and pushed on my chest. I laid down next to her, hoping that was what she wanted. I watched as she pulled her head onto my chest. She curled up with her face towards me. She was silent for a minute. "Sorry."

"No, I should be the one who's sorry. I'm the one who reminded you of-"

"I'm the one who's still not over it. It happened years ago anyways. I'm being a btch."

I looked at her in surprise. "Candi, you're not. It's something that no one should go through ever, let alone multiple times for months." I softly caressed her cheek. She looked up at me, and gave a shaky smile. She held my hand and it sent an electric shocks back and forth each second. She kissed it.

Jessica's POV

Tamaki walked right up to me as soon as their elevator doors closed. I watched him carefully. He stopped when he was about an inch from me. Sht, I'm short compared to this guy. I barely came to his eye level. When Tamaki had nearly crashed into me, I had felt electricity, and it was almost killing me. When I had kissed him, it was like a lightning bolt released it all. Now, all the electricity was back in full force.

At this point, I was about to comb back my hair in frustration. I don't know what I felt about Tamaki for sure. I think I like him, but my brain is telling me that I shouldn't.

Then Tamaki decided to do exactly what I was going to. He entwined his fingers in my hair and pushed back. He smiled. "You're quite the interesting girl."

It took all my effort to not stutter and act like an idiot. Gd, I did not expect him to do that in a million years. Jackson barely ever held my hand, but here was Tamaki initiating this sort of close physical contact. I mean, I'm usually a very physical person, and I don't really care if I'm being really physical towards guys. But Tamaki was actually sending shivers down my spine as I felt the coolness of his fingers on my scalp. It was wayyyyy too hard to not shudder, shiver or react in any way that might encourage him.

Well, I did kiss him earlier, but that was just to relief some of the tension in the environment.

"People become interesting the more you get to know them" I replied.

"Are you saying I know you really well?" he asked skeptically. Don't blush, don't blush, no blushing.

"I'm saying you must not know a whole lot of people very well" I replied coolly. I wonder if he's working just as hard to not blush. Maybe this is him getting revenge for me kissing him. But did that mean he wanted to kiss me? Or was he just experiencing similar feelings of confusion that I was now?

But then he teleported to a corner, and there was a dark cloud of sadness over him. I looked at him with confusion. "How did you get there so fast?" I murmured to myself.

"Nobody loves me. Jessica's right, I have no friends."

When I heard the dark things he was saying about himself, I almost felt bad for dissing him so much, the key word being almost.

"Shut the fck up, btch" I said. I looked at him again. "Where the fck did you get mushrooms?!"


	20. Chapter 20: Roller Coaster Shopping

Chapter 20:

Candi's POV

I awoke to the sound of Jessica's excited yells while she was jumping on my bed. "What?!" I asked, irritated already.

Jessica sat down in front of me and faced me with a wide smile. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and yawning. I regret asking already, since she probably will start talking faster than light in one really long sentence.

"Holy sht Candi! I woke up, and looked and saw a balloon and it was weighted down right next to my face, so I sat up and looked around my room and there were balloons all over the place and I noticed they all had a piece of paper in it, so I popped them all and made a big mess probably, but the letters made the words 'Final ball? –Tamaki', so I don't know whether or not I should accept!"

I shook my head to clear it of the entire muddle within. I understood 'Final ball' and 'Tamaki', so I'm assuming Tamaki asked her and she's not sure. I growled, and laid back down in bed. "Just say yes. Not like it makes a difference."

"But Candi!" she whined, hitting my shoulder. "I have no idea if he likes me or if he hates me or even if I like him, and if I go with him that might cause me to lead him on or me to be lead along by him and I just don't know enough!"

"So?" I asked. I then took one of the throw pillows and put it over my head so she wouldn't bombard me with further nonsense. At this point, her nonsensical ranting exceeds that of Tamaki. I really don't see what's the big deal. However, I actually have a boyfriend, so I can't really talk. I wonder if Kyouya is going to regret asking me to the Final Ball. I mean, he must've put a lot of thought into asking me, since I doubt he's naturally one to do cute things like that. But he has his fans who may or may not choose to keep my social status in mind.

Wait. I actually have time to think. I peeked out from under my pillow, and Jessica was doing cartwheels in thought. She hasn't done those in a while, so this must be something she's having a serious debate over. Even if she acts like a child, she's really a lot more mature than me.

Her sharp green eyes locked on my turquoise, and she smiled. Oh please, whatever she's planning better not be mentally degrading.

"Time for dress shopping! So I'll call Kiri, Ayaka and Kyoko and we can go to a-"

"No!"

I chewed on my still-damp hair in the limo ride to the mall while all those other girls giggled and kept talking about Tamaki. At least, I kept hearing Tamaki's name in the conversation. Well, since Jessica's friends probably didn't know who Tamaki was, they would definitely be curious.

The one with chin-length, curly brown hair turned to me. I think this one was Kiri, but Jessica had more friends than I could count. "So who are you going to this Final Ball with?" Her voice was softer and more gentle than everyone else's. I already like this girl more than the other two.

"Yes, I want to hear this too!" said another bubbly girl who I think was Kyoko.

"Same! Is he just as hot as Tamaki?" This one had to be Ayaka. Why on earth did she think Tamaki could be hot?

"Uh…" I said, everyone now staring at me. "Kyouya Otori."

Everyone but Jessica was staring at me in shock. Jessica looked just as confused as I was. Well, Otori was a prominent name, I'm not quite sure why they would be so shocked. One could also explain their common expression as horror. After a second, Kiri's expression hardened into something I'd imagine Kyouya's dad to have.

"Mr. Otori is my fiancé, Candi."

"What?!" Jessica said loudly. I didn't quite fully register what she just said.

Kiri looked at Jessica. "You weren't there when the announcement was made. Sorry you found out this way, but I honestly couldn't care less what he does until we get married. Our engagement hasn't been announced to the public, so I expect him to behave responsibly when the time comes."

Kyouya… that's right… he was engaged to a… Kiri Poen… So this is the girl that was planning on- No, this was arranged. She hadn't planned anything, and it sounds like she has even less of an idea of what Kyouya is like than Kyouya does of her. Kiri is a nice girl, and she doesn't deserve to be judged this quickly by me.

"What about your boyfriend?" Jessica asked loudly. My ears peaked. Wait, if she wants to not go through with the marriage, then something could be arranged. But that depends on who this boyfriend of hers is. I just simply don't know enough.

"Jessica, unless I marry Kyouya, my father will not be satisfied. He doesn't even know about Taoro." I wonder what happened to Kiri's kind personality. Maybe this happens when she's talking business. Why on earth would her marriage be business?!

"But Taoro is the son of the creator of valuable storage foods! He's just as rich, just not nearly as powerful! I don't see why not!"

Kiri's mask broke, and she must've seen the reason in it. I felt bad for this girl. My parents weren't power-hungry, as their invention by itself gives them a lot of power. I don't understand the incredibly deep desire that some have to be more powerful than everyone else.

I put my hand on hers. "I will talk to Mr. Ootori."

Just as the car stopped, Kiri realized how important those words were. I can hack into his Chameleon any second of the day, and he understands that fact just as well as I do. And this is especially considering the fact that I'm the worst with technology in the family.

Everyone walked out, and I glanced at Jessica. She looked at me with a look of apology in her eyes. I shrugged. What are the chances?

She smiled, then skipped forward in front of all of us and started chattering. I then walked slightly slower the rest of the group so I wouldn't be obligated to be a part of their conversation. As I walked, I glanced as some of the clothes that these stores were displaying. It's been a while since I've worn something other than plain long-sleeved t-shirts and basketball shorts. It's beyond my understanding how Jessica can wear jeans and fancy shirts everyday. And this girl also has the widest variety of skirts. Again, beyond my understanding.

I chuckled at the thought of me wearing a DRESS to the final ball. Well, I at least had these stylish girls who will help me not look like the lazy, aloof person I normally am. But I didn't want to do anything to my hair. It isn't horrible on its own, and that's all I need. If these people try to make me do something to my hair, I will just hurt them.

"Here!" Jessica yelled, pulling Ayaka with her. I followed in, but I stopped at the entrance. The entire place was filled with dresses. Some were bordering on slutty. Some were simple. But they were all dresses, and that fact was almost scaring me at the moment.

"Candi, you can't stop now!" Kiri said, smiling and pulling my hand. I followed, just keeping my eyes on the ground ahead of me. Kiri's a strong person. We were just talking about her future husband as if she was willing to kill someone for the perfect choice, and she's back to her kind self. She's an interesting character.

"Ooh! This one's perfect for you Jessica!" Ayaka said, pulling a long-sleeved dress of the rack. This one was black, super tight and had a lot of holes in various places.

Kyoko also pulled one off, and hopped up and down. This dress wasn't tight, but it did show just as much skin. "No! I found a better one!"

"I like this one better!" Jessica said, pulling a bright blue dress that actually covered her legs. I sighed, looking at the dress selection. Then I looked at Kiri. She was carefully observing each dress and glancing once at me before moving onto the next. She didn't say a word. The rest of the girls dashed to the living room. I chuckled.

"I guess you're helping me" I said, shrugging. She smiled.

"Yea, I'm normally an oddball within that group anyways, so it works out just fine. How do you like this one?"

This was the same dress as the one that Ayaka grabbed, just white. I shrugged. "As long as that's not the one Jessica picks." It was a bit on the slutty side, but at least it didn't look uncomfortable. It was just stretchy material. I started lazily glancing over the dresses. There was one I put on my arm that was green and long sleeves. Good enough.

"Let's try these ones for now" Kiri said, also adding a purple one to the pile.

"Alright" I said, following her. I've never been to this store before. I wonder how much these dresses cost.

As we walked in, Jessica was already wearing a slinky blue dress. "I think I look a little too slutty in this. What do you think Candi?"

I shrugged. "You expect me to know these things?"

She laughed. Kyoko spoke up. "I think it's the fact that your blonde that makes this a little hard to work with. Try on this one!"

Jessica nodded, and walked back into the dressing room. I stepped into a dressing room as well, and hung up the dresses. I skewed my mouth at the dresses, since they all look the same to me. I sighed as I took of my clothes and put on the tight white dress. I wonder what Kyouya would think of this dress. Wait, would I look slutty in this dress? I didn't care what other people thought, but I didn't want to stand out either.

I looked at myself in the mirror, and saw the expression of surprise on face. In wearing loose t-shirts, sports bras and basketball shorts, I didn't realize how skinny I had become. I remember myself having larger hips and larger breasts. Maybe it was the depression and blood loss that had caused my current lack of figure. Jessica had made me wear a normal white bra, and it felt too large on me. A C cup wasn't that large, to add to my horror.

"Candi?! Are you alright?" Kiri asked softly. I realized that I wasn't hearing any of the other girls talk, and I was taking a long time.

"Uh, yea!" I said back. I stepped out shyly, hiding my body with the door. "Do I have to show you guys? I mean, It's all the same to me what I wear, so-"

"Just let us see!" Jessica said, tugging on my hand. I pursed my lips and stepped out. I felt uncomfortable under their examining stares. Every muscle in my body wanted to pull down the skirt that came just above my knees, but I could do nothing but cross my arms over my chest.

"You look great!" Kiri said with a kind smile on her face. I doubted what she said, but I don't think my opinion was incredibly valid compared to theirs.

"Yea! You have the perfect body for this dress!" Kyoko said, also smiling. For some reason, I was actually starting to believe their words. "Though the sleeves are a little long."

"I think you look absolutely stunning" Jessica said, hugging me. That's when I noticed she was wearing a strapless dark grey dress with a lot of weird flower sort of things on the flor-length skirt.

"You look great too!" I said, smiling faintly. She grinned.

"Now try on this dress!" Ayaka said, appearing out of nowhere and handing me a purple, floor-length strapless dress. "It's the perfect color!"

I tentatively took the dress, and walked back into the changing room. I hear Jessica go back into her changing room while I was changing. I wonder just how honest they were when they said all those nice things about how I looked. After I put on this strapless purple dress Ayaka handed me, that's when I noticed a large obstacle in wearing dresses. I yelped when I saw it.

My cuts were plainly visible.

I had gotten stitches, so they didn't look nearly as bad as before, but they were still not pretty. I remembered each time I cut myself and how I felt the pain relieved, how I felt myself hiding from the memories. The reminder of my depression completely killed the buzzing confidence I had felt a just a few seconds ago.

"Candi!" I heard Jessica's voice say. I wonder if they had tried more time to call me.

"Don't worry, I'm fine" I said weakly. I needed an excuse for my moment just there. "I just look horrible in this dress, so I'm not coming out."

"I'm sure you look just fine!" Ayaka said. "Just show us!"

"You are pretty no matter what" Kiri's soft voice said. "It's alright to show us."

I pursed my lips. Well, if I just hide my arm, then it won't be too bad, I guess. I unlocked the door. "Okay" I murmured. So I stepped out.

"Holy sht" Kyoko and Jessica said together.

"You look drop-dead gorgeous" Ayaka said, her eyes wide with awe. I stepped back, trying to hide my arms behind my back. I really don't want them to see the cuts.

"Spin!" Kyoko said, grinning. I shook my head. She frowned. "Come on!"

I shook my head again. I smiled awkwardly. "I-I don't really like this dress all that much." I needed something to get me away. What on earth possessed me to step out this vulnerable?

"Come on, you HAVE to do it!" Ayaka said. She then quickly reached out and grabbed my left hand. I had no time to react before my inner forearm was visible to everyone. I pulled back as soon as I could, but it was too late. There was shock, horror and surprise on all of their faces. Jessica didn't show as much of it, since she already knew about the cuts. I felt my face redden. I don't normally care about what people think, but in this case, it was just too personal to not blush.

"I'll go find more dresses with sleeves" Kiri said after one long, quiet second. I looked up at her in surprise. She was smiling kindly, and I felt my heart warm a bit.

"Yea!" Ayaka said, with a look on her face as if she just remembered something. "I saw this one really cute black dress with sleeves, but then I saw this purple one a second later. I'll find the black one." How could she get over this the atrocity of the cuts so quickly?

They left together. Jessica reached out, and squeezed my hand. That was enough for her to convey her apologies and concern towards me. I smiled faintly at her.

"Ha! I bet they didn't think to look for gloves now, didn't they!" Kyoko said, grinning. "I'll go hunt then down. This dress is too perfect to not try to find gloves for it."

I smiled for real as she left. For once, being around shallow people turned out to be for the better. Kiri was an exception, since she was one of the kindest people I'd met yet.

As Kyoko left, I was left alone with Jessica. I glanced at her. Now she was wearing a navy blue dress otherwise identical to mine. "You look really pretty" I offered.

"Oh, thanks!" she said breathlessly, smiling. "But there are disadvantages to looking great in everything. I've narrowed it down to this and the gray one. Which do you prefer?"

I shrugged. "Do you expect me to know these things?" I repeated. She laughed, and the tension in her face relaxed.

"I'm thinking more the gray one, since I don't know what kind of dresses other girls will be wearing. I'll wear a jacket with it in case it's too slutty."

"Thanks for making me go shopping" I said, squeezing her hand. Jessica smiled at me just before Ayaka came back with the black dress she must've been talking about. The top was almost like a tight, long-sleeved t-shirt, but the shiny black belt was at the hip, and the skirt was covered in sequins. She held it up to me, and sighed.

"I thought it was really cute, but it doesn't match your hair. Your hair is more sexy, and you can't have sexy and cute together."

I laughed. The sound was strange to me. I don't remember the last time I actually laughed. Maybe it was when Kyouya was talking to me when he was first at my house. The laugh relieved so much tension that it almost hurt. The laugh only lasted a second, but I felt so happy I kept a wide smile.

We just decided on the white dress, since everyone (me included) thought it was really sexy and perfect with my faintly tan skin. Jessica had more of a debate, but she ended up just going with the gray dress. I decided to eat in the food court while they shopped around for the jacket Jessica wanted. It took all my effort to not sleep, but I could feel my mind beginning to slip. Why is it that after I experience strong emotion I want to sleep?

"Well we didn't expect to see you here" said two male voices together. I groaned, propped my head up on one hand and opened one eye to see the Hiitachin twins.

"What do you want?" I sighed.

They sat down across from me, but I didn't move my head at all. I watched them carefully. "Nothing in particular" Kaoru said. At least, I think it was Kaoru. He was the one with the part towards the left, in any case.

"So what are you doing here?" Hikaru asked.

"Shopping for a dress" I murmured.

"Oh, you're what?" Kaoru asked, leaning closer and putting his hand to his ear.

"Shopping for a dress" I murmured louder.

"I'm afraid I can't hear you" Hikaru said, doing the same.

"Shopping for a dress" I now said using succinct language. "I just bought a dress, and everyone else is looking for a jacket for Jessica."

Their eyebrows raised together. "You're going to the dance?" they asked together.

"With Kyouya" I said. I wonder if they know I'm dating him.

They apparently didn't, and they started laughing in surprise. After a few moments, Kaoru finally spoke again. "So who is Jessica going with?"

"Tamaki" I replied bluntly. Then their faces twisted into anticipation of something unpleasant.

"They're going to rip her to shreds" Hikaru said.

I shrugged. "Jessica is the karate black belt in the family, and she can still do it in high heels."

They laughed. "Oh dear. Then the other girls better watch out" Kaoru said.

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" someone yelled from a distance away. I tried to find the voice, and then saw Tamaki running towards us. He looked furious, and the twins grinned. They stood up. Kaoru looked at me.

"Well, it appears as if it is time for us to leave" he said, grinning wider. Then they took off, Tamaki following behind them.

I wonder if Jessica will see them, and if so, if will she participate. Knowing Jessica, that will be the case.


	21. Chapter 21: Now or Never

**I apologize a million times over for my leave of absence. But, as a (late) Christmas gift, I edited all the chapter so that they're a little less confusing and a lot more interesting. And as a New Years present, I have a new chapter! Enjoy!**

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Chapter 21: Now or Never

Kyouya's POV

I stood with Candi behind the one-way glass. On the other side was Helena. She was lying down on the uncomfortable bed, but it was hard to miss her bright orange jumpsuit. Candi hadn't spoken to her yet, but she was just staring at her figure with a look of concentration on her face. I wonder when Candi was going to speak.

"Kyouya, I'm not sure I want to speak to her" Candi finally said. I took her hand, and noticed that she was shaking.

"She can't hurt you unless you let her. I'll be right here if you need help." Hopefully the vague advice would be inspirational to her. Candi looked at me, and her turquoise eyes were a mix of hope and fear. I guess I could call it courage.

"I'll just keep the conversation short" she said, walking up to the microphone. She pressed the button, and spoke. "Hello Helena."

"Hey" Helena replied with a bored tone. "Who might you be?"

"Does the name Candi Shadburn sound familiar?"

Helena's eyebrows rose. "I thought you would've committed suicide after out little talk on the sidewalk."

I already wanted to punch this btch. I knew she said something to Candi, but I didn't realize it was intended to make Candi kill herself. But with the rate that Candi was cutting herself, that would've happened without her interference. At least Candi was alright now.

"Well you did do a good job, except I've been getting better at dealing with your sht." I smiled at Candi's response.

Helena laughed, and she turned to face the glass that was black to her. I saw her eyes for the first time. Their pale blue color twinkled. For a serial rapist, it was creepy. They seemed to be focusing on Candi, even though she shouldn't be able to see anything beyond the glass.

"Then good for you. Normally, my playmates kill themselves within 24 hours after encountering me again." Now I wanted her to die. 'Playmates'? How did Candi deal with the hate and anger without venting?

"How many other kids did you victimize?" Candi asked, almost growling.

"Little girls" Helena corrected. "Well, they varied in ages, but all before their teens."

How did Helena become that twisted? Little girls, all younger than 13. Why?

"I asked you how many others there are." Candi repeated. It was beyond my understanding how she wasn't trying to bash Helena's head into the wall already.

"48."

Candi's grip on the microphone tightened. "What happened to you that made you want to do this?"

Helena sat up, still looking at the glass. "Ever heard of a gang bang?"

I wasn't sure what that was, since it was an American term. However, Candi seemed to know. "And?"

"I figured out that I liked girls while I was giving my daughter a bath. I think you can figure out the rest." Helena's smile was creepy, but when I figured out what 'the rest' meant, my grip on Candi's hand tightened. In my anger, I took the microphone from Candi.

"I will make sure you die an inhumane death" I growled. Candi seems to be handling this conference with Helena fairly well compared to me.

"Kyouya" she said softly, pulling me away from the microphone with her.

"That filthy btch is absolutely sick!" I yelled. She winced at my voice. Guilt stabbed me, and I forced myself to calm down. I can't be taking from her courage when I'm the one who promised to support her. After a deep breath, I held out my arms for a hug. She smiled faintly, and hugged me.

"I can agree with you on that" she said softly. I chuckled.

"Sorry for yelling."

"Don't worry. It happens."

"Let's just go home. I don't think we need to talk to her anymore" I said, pulling out of the hug. Our hands were still glued together.

"That sounds like a good idea" she said, smiling. However, before we walked away, she flipped off Helena. I chuckled, and we walked out together.

"How did you manage to keep such tight control of your emotions?" I asked her as we walked back to my limo waiting outside. She kissed my cheek before speaking.

"I had you with me. Of course I'd have the strength to keep standing."

It's official. Candi loves me.

Tamaki's POV

I paced outside the front door of the Shadburn mansion. Jessica might not be home, so I should first ask Helga if Jessica was home. Then if she wasn't there, I would just apologize fore bothering her, and go back into the limo. If Jessica was there, then I'll go up-

"Are ye gonna stand there til ye freeze? Or do ye want to be inside?" Helga asked, opening the door. My plan of action flew out the window, and I turned red with embarrassment.

"I, uh, yes, is Jessica home?" I stuttered. However, my brain functioned enough to have me walk inside without tripping and falling on my face. Helga closed the door.

"Indeed. She's upstairs in 'er room."

"You're wel- I mean, thanks." How on earth was I so awkward? Hopefully my face wasn't still bright red when I walked to the stairs.

"It's Tamaki!" yelled Jessica's voice. I looked up, and she was somehow doing a cartwheel down the stairs. My heart practically stopped at the impossibility of her actions. Was she a ninja, like Honey?

In my thoughts, I didn't notice that she was very close now. She tackled me to the ground, hugging me.

"Hi!" she said, grinning.

"Hello!" I replied, unsure of what to do now. She was on top of me, and I couldn't do anything unless she moved.

"What should we do today?" she asked, a look of curiosity on her face.

"I-" I managed before she got an idea.

"Finger painting!" she yelled, quickly getting up and running back up the stairs. I chased after her so that I wouldn't be locked out of her elevator or something. She flipped her hair, which I noticed was straight today. Last time I was here, it was wavy. She was shorter than me. It was weird to think she was smaller than me but she had tons more energy. Well, Mori was a giant and he was kind of if the shadows.

Jessica looked up at me. "Are you staring down my shirt?" she asked with a playful smile on her face.

I blushed, and looked ahead of me. Since she was shorter at me, and I had to look down, it would be difficult to tell what exactly I was looking at. "No" I managed to reply.

"Yes you were!" she said, laughing. "Tamaki's a pervert! Tamaki's a pervert!"

"I am not!" I yelled above her newfound song. My blush was darkening.

"Yes, you are! You're the King of your Man-Whores!" she dashed out into her room when the elevator opened. I chased after her, but I stumbled over a textbook.

"Klutz!" she said, disguising among coughs. I sighed, but sat down on the other side of her at the low table. There was a lot of paper, and then trays with various colors of paint. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What does one do when they 'finger paint'?" I asked. Where were the paintbrushes?

"You've never finger painted?" she asked in shock. I shrugged.

"We did oil pastel, we did watercolor, we did clay, we did a lot of other things, but this is new."

"I've never heard of a child whose never finger painted before" she said, shaking her head in disappointment. She dipped the pad of her finger in black paint. "You basically use your fingers as paintbrushes."

"What?!" I asked in surprise.

"Like this" she said, reaching across the table and grabbing onto my wrist. I was glad I was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt, since the paint on her finger got on the inside of my wrist. Her warm fingers made my skin feel hot.

Jessica dipped the tipped of my finger in blue paint. When she let go of my wrist, I stared at my finger. "What do I do now?" I asked, totally confused.

"Something like this" she said, focusing on her paper. I looked, and she was using the paint on her finger to draw three small circles. What an interesting way to paint. The epiphany must've shown on my face, because she laughed again.

"Jessica, why did I never learn this before" I said, instantly going to work on painting an ocean. Maybe I could make dolphins. I wonder what she was making. Either way, I needed to get working. My painting had to be better than Jessica's. The imaginary competition got me pumped enough to focus on just my painting.

"Tamaki, what is that?" she asked when I finally finished my first dolphin.

"It's a dolphin!" I cried indignantly. When I looked at her paper, I realized why mine was so bad. Her spider was very realistic so far, and I was almost scared myself.

Jessica laughed. "I see it now!" However, I had already teleported to the corner. Dark thoughts ran through my head.

"I am so uncultured! I can't even paint well on a child's level!" I said before something cold hit my back. Instinctively, I jumped to my feet and tried to figure out what was on my back. Jessica was laughing her head off, since I had trouble seeing my back. If she was laughing, then I had the feeling that I should be afraid. The wetness of the strange substance was soaking into my shirt, and I decided to just throw it off. When it hit the floor, I saw gray paint. Jessica was laughing even more now, probably at my facial expression.

"Holy fck, you're a retard!" she managed between fits of laughter. My cheeks were heating up in embarrassment. I thought that she would've thrown a live slime-ball or something.

"I hate you!" I whined. Unsure of what else to do, I sat back at the table. My horrible painting stared back at me, reminding me of why I went into the corner in the first place. Though I wanted to return to my corner, I didn't want more paint thrown at me. Instead, a dark cloud of despair decided to hang out above my head.

"For the record, Tamaki, that is a very good painting" Jessica said, still chuckling. "Mine is only good because I do random things like this when I'm bored."

"You didn't need to be so mean" I pouted. However, I continued painting. Maybe if I have its belly be white, then it'll look more like a dolphin. We were silent, carefully crafting our creations on paper.

"Done!" I sang, jumping up and down on my feet for excitement. I made another dolphin, and this second one turned out much better than the last. "Beat that!"

When I saw her painting, the corner summoned me once more. However, I couldn't answer its call due to the idea of more paint on me. Hers wasn't done, but looked so real that I felt that I should kill it before it wakes up.

"Why must yours be so good?!" I whined. I threw out my hands to gesture towards her painting. However, it seems as if there was still bright blue paint on my fingers, because a gazillion tiny drops of blue spread on her painting. She froze, staring at her painting. I also froze, more in fear than shock. How was she going to react? Was she going to yell? Or calmly start a new one? Or what?

Without a word, she stood up with her painting in her hand. She walked towards me, and though she was shorter than me, I felt I should hide before I'm murdered by papercuts. However, fear locked me in place.

Jessica smeared the wet painting onto my bare chest, and looked up at me. Her mouth was in a hard line, probably in calm anger. The cold wet paint stayed on my chest while the paper fell to the ground. I grabbed the first thing I could grab a hold of; my painting. Without thinking, I shoved it in her face and smeared it around like she did on my chest. I was shocked at my actions, but it seems that war has already started.

The paper fell to the ground, and Jessica wiped away some of the paint so she could see and breathe. I stepped back before she could get me with the paint she had on her fingers. She ran forward and managed to get it on my forehead. In response, I squirted her with the green paint bottle I managed to grab. It got all over her shirt and chest. I was horrified at my actions. Jessica, on the other hand, was grinning.

"It's on" she said, grabbing a tray with two different shades of pink. It was flying at me, but she aimed too low. It hit my khakis as I was reaching for the tray with three kinds of blue. I smeared some on my hand, and threw the tray at her. My attempt to run at her failed, though, since I nearly fell due to white paint she squirted on the floor. She grabbed a handful of orange paint, and dumped it on my head.

"Ew!" Jessica when I dumped more purple paint down her back. Because of the shirt's design, the paint remained inside the shirt. Her solution was to throw off her shirt. I stared at her torso. Though her chest was not large, her stomach was very impressive. Flat, toned, tan, and faint hints of a 6-pack. I never realized that she was just that hot.

"See? Pervert" her playful voice said, snapping me out of my ogling.

"Am not!" I replied. However, the yellow paint in her hand demanded my attention, and I ducked to avoid the stream of paint. I hit her stomach with the bottle of purple paint still in my hand. She stepped forwards, probably to smash my face with the tray in her hand with brown paint. However, she slipped on the white paint she sprayed on the floor earlier, and fell on top of me.

The grin on her face remained, and we were both breathing hard. This reminded me heavily of when she kissed me last time I was here. Except this time, her arms were keeping me trapped. Paint from her face dripped onto mine.

"Tamaki?" she asked. The grin had faded to just a smile.

"Yea?" I barely managed to say.

"Wanna make out?" she asked playfully, still smiling. Hopefully the orange paint dribbling down my face hid some of my blush.

"Uh…" I said before I made myself think about my next choice of words. Part of me wanted to, while the other said that this was ridiculous. I did want to; the reason in me agreed with that. However, that went against the behavior I let myself have with girls.

"I'll take that as a yes" she said, interrupting my thoughts. She leaned in closer and closer until our lips touched. I tasted the paint that was probably covering both our lips. It didn't taste very good, but I was having more trouble getting over the fact that she was aiming to make out with me. Obviously that was good, but was it in a bad way?

A voice inside me whispered 'Do what you want; this moment's not going to happen again.'

"Tamaki?" she asked again. Her lips moved against mine as she spoke.

I reached my hands up, and pulled her head back towards mine to kiss her. The paint taste had been replaced by peppermint, something I didn't expect. I also didn't expect Jessica to put her tongue in my mouth, and feel every millimeter inside. I'm the guy here, wasn't that my job? Then again, shouldn't I be on top?

Jessica was obviously surprised when I sat up, but she chuckled. "What are you trying to do?" she muttered in my ear. I felt her bite my earlobe, and that sent a shudder down my spine. I forgot what I was planning when she kissed right below my ear. She moved along my jaw and ended up at my mouth once again. I felt her teeth again, biting my lip this time. My gut dropped when I shuddered again.

Wait, wasn't I trying to be the one on top? I'm the one who's supposed to make her feel like this. I gently pushed against her, and we slowly fell to the paint-covered floor. Finally, my turn. My lips disconnected from hers, and she gazed at me, probably wondering what I was going to do. Honestly speaking, I had little clue, but I guess I could imitate her.

"Copy cat" she breathed when I bit her earlobe. Her next breathe shook. Success. Instead of going along her jaw like she did, I began to kiss lower down her neck. I kissed around the spots with paint. Every inch of her skin tasted of peppermint, just like her mouth. Finally, I was at the base of her neck. It seems that there was nothing to do here but go back up.

Rather than a direct path back to her mouth, I crossed to each side of her neck, tracing a zig-zag path as I went along. I stopped the top of her neck, and trailed my tongue up to her chin.

"Where did you learn this sht?" she asked right before I kissed her. I grinned.

"You" I replied. Jessica, however, kissed me first, and continued exploring my mouth with her tongue. Dmn. I wanted a turn. I fought her for control, and won quickly. Maybe she was getting tired. Either way, I was having fun tasting the source of the peppermint. Her teeth were all smooth and straight. I heard her giggle when I was at a certain point in the roof of her mouth. Just to make her giggle again, I went over that spot again. Her giggle increased into a laugh.

"Stop that!" she said around my tongue. She tried to keep from laughing when I did it again. I would have to take note of this spot. Finally, I pulled my tongue out of her mouth, noticing my exhaustion.

My arms were too tired to hold me up, so I decided to collapse next to her. Jessica jumped up, and I looked at her in confusion.

"We need to wash the paint off of ourselves" she explained. She held out her hand, and I took it to pull me onto my feet.

"I think I'll need a new change of clothes" I laughed.

"Same. Maybe we can find some of Candi's clothes. They'll probably fit you."

I sighed.

"Not that I mind you bare-chested" Jessica said, kissing my shoulder. She turned on the shower, and I blushed. Were we going to take a shower together?

However, Jessica answered my silent question by leaning over and washing her own hair. Oh. We were just using the showerhead to wash the paint out easier. She quickly finished, and looked at me. The showerhead was still in her hand. I think she got an idea, because a grin suddenly spread on her face.

Water suddenly flew at me as she turned the showerhead towards me. I yelled, and backed away. Seems we're doing this again. Though I dreaded this next war, I felt my grin widen.

* * *

**I promise I'll write like crazy to get you guys a new chapter tomorrow. Again, I'm really sorry for going AWOL on you guys, and I'll make it up to you loyal fans.**


	22. Chapter 22: Happily F---ing Ever After

Chapter 22: Happily F-ing Ever After

Candi's POV

I stood at the door of Mr. Ootori's office. That one piece of wood was all that was keeping me from speaking to the Devil, the father of my Demon Lord. Many hours were spent preparing for this meeting. I had dressed up a little bit at least. Slacks and a blazer were dressy, right?

Finally, I knocked on the door.

"Come in" said a deep voice. My knees were already shaking, but I forced them to stop. All the final exams I just finished taking in school were nothing compared to this. I opened the door, and walked in. The man sitting behind the desk had sharp features. His neat hair and carefully trimmed beard made me feel like I should have done something to my hair besides brushing it.

"Mr. Ootori" I said, bowing. He nodded in respect. "My name is Candi Shadburn. It's a pleasure to meet you."

His eyebrows shot up for the slightest second. "The pleasure is mine, Ms. Shadburn. Do please sit."

"Thank you" I said, sitting down across from him. I felt confident, but I hated the formalities. Still, I kept strict posture and a calm, professional tone.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked, sternly analyzing every move I made.

"I will get straight to the point." I wanted to get out of here already, so I may as well get it all over with. "I am in love with your son Kyouya, and have received the impression that he holds the same feelings for me. However, he is engaged to an acquaintance of mine named Kiri Poen, as you have arranged. However, Kiri is romantically interested in another named Taoro Iharaga, who holds the same feelings for her.

"Now that you know of the dilemma that I hope to resolve, please understand why I ask somewhat demanding requests of you. Though the engagement is to conclude a rivalry between your business and the Poen business, I ask that you discontinue the engagement on Kyouya's behalf to help everyone in their life-long quest for happiness. Kyouya has not asked me to request this of you, and he has made no indication that he wishes to take action on the mutual displeasure between the four of us. It is I, and I alone, who is appealing to you for this course of action."

I carefully watched his expression. His face didn't change in the slightest in the course of my long fancy-sounding speech. Though I was probably wrong, I think he was thinking this all over. Well, at least he'd better. The fate of the happiness of four young adults depends on his decision.

"Ms. Shadburn, I fully understand your situation and what you ask, and I see your reasoning. However, this rivalry between mine and the Poen company has been persisting for over 100 years. This marriage will connect the two companies with the heirs that Kyouya and Kiri are to produce."

"That is something I fully understand as well, Mr. Ootori. However, you and I both know that this marriage is a method of both parties attacking each other. Because of the professionalism I've seen in both Kyouya and Kiri, I expect that your efforts to peek into the activities of the Poen company will be in vain, as will the efforts of the Poen company to sneak a glance into your actions." That was something it took me a while to figure out, but it made sense.

"What if we actually intend to resolve this pointless competition between us?" Mr. Ootori asked. I could see that this is hypothetical, and that my first hypothesis on his reasoning was correct.

"Then yours and the Poen company can come to an agreement without the marriage. Have dinner together, drink some wine, and maybe even smile." That last part probably didn't quite settle well in the head of this Devil, but I continued. "However, breaking off this marriage does not harm the future of your company. I understand the Poen company, though nearly monopolizing their field the same as you do, lack the same power that you hold. A marriage between Kyouya and Kiri would prove to be a step below the standards you hold for the spouses of your children."

He chuckled. "But, Ms. Shadburn, what if the Ootori group intends to extend their business into the field of furniture design and construction?"

"I think your efforts will be better spent investing in the expansion of your company into, say, the field of computer technology." I watched his reaction. I half expected to see him experience an epiphany in deducing my implications. But he probably knew I was going to bring this up anyways. He's sure to be ahead of me in everything I do.

He chuckled once more. "It seems that you will further reinforce your point should I continue questioning hypothetical possibilities."

"Mr. Ootori" I began, starting to really lose patience. He already knew what was best for him and I. "Your time is very valuable. Should you continue to ponder your verdict on this predicament, then you would only be wasting this said valuable time. I am fairly certain you don't need me to tell you to make a dmn decision already."

The corner of his mouth flickered upwards, almost as if he was smiling. "Then I completely agree with you, and thank you for your time."

I had to keep from jumping in the air for joy as I stood up. Mr. Ootori shook my hand. "I greatly appreciate your time and effort given towards my requests."

"I strongly hope that this will contribute towards a positive association between the two of us, as well as fulfill the wishes of you four."

Though I was recently filled with joy, that last statement he made took out the 'overflowing' part of 'overflowing happiness'. He cared about making me happy more than he did his own son, but at least he did what I asked him to.

Kyouya's POV

It was absolute chaos, doing tests every day for a week. Finals for Physics, English, Literature, History, higher level Calculus and Statistics turned out to be somewhat easy, at least. The cherry on the top of the stress sundae was the Final Ball, which I had to organize the set up of. The laborers were being paid out of the Host Club fund, and that added some sprinkles.

I sighed as I stared at the empty ball room. The chefs were cooking the food at the moment, and they would bring it out when it was closer to the ball. I checked my watch. There was two hours of free time before I was due to pick up Candi in one hour. I hadn't seen her since yesterday, and maybe that was a great contributor to the stress. She had sent me a text after class today saying she needed to take care of something before the ball, and she couldn't meet up with me as usual.

Though I wanted to see her right now, she might be working on something important. I had to understand that she had work to do to keep her away from cutting and the thoughts of her past. A shudder shook my entire body when I thought of the nightmares that Candi had simply described. I didn't want to think of her experiencing them. Not only was she too beautiful and delicate to experience anything horrible, but the nightmares held horror and pain worlds beyond my ability to comprehend.

As my limo pulled into the gate of my house, another car sped out. It was a bright orange sports car, and it drove too fast for me to tell what it was. The windows were also too dark for me to make out anything of the driver, so I ignored it.

Finally home, I sighed. There was barely enough time to get changed into my tuxedo. I wonder what she was going to wear. Candi has never dressed up in my presence. The best I've probably seen of her might be at the beach house, where she wore a black bikini with a white cover-up dress. But that may or may not be similar to what she was planning on wearing. I hoped for more than a loose garment meant to get covered in sand. Though I probably shouldn't get my expectations up too high. I'm just wearing a tuxedo, a predictable outfit.

I examined my appearance. Neat hair, perfectly fitting tuxedo and pants, and clean glasses. I wore a vibrant blue vest underneath the jacket, so I hope that was enough color for Candi. Maybe it might match what she wore. After a quick double-check for everything, I rushed to the limo. Traffic better be in my favor, as I was running late by about 3 minutes.

On the way to Candi's house, I pursed my lips. There was probably no reason to be nervous, yet I felt small bits of anxiety pile upon each other the closer I got to her house. It was almost comical: the Demon Lord was nervous to pick up his girlfriend for a dance. Wait, did she ever tell her parents that she and I were dating? They didn't know about her being 'gay' until Hikaru mentioned it. Would she do the same with her relationship with me?

"We're here, Master Kyouya" said the chauffeur. I nodded, and hopped out of the car. I fixed my tuxedo. Tamaki probably has already picked up Jessica, taken her out to dinner, and gone frolicking in cherry blossoms or something. My more romantic side said I should have done that, but the reasonable side told me that both Candi and I were busy today, and that couldn't happen. Maybe I could take her out to dinner some other day, one where it would be a surprise.

Helga answered the door a second after I knocked. "Good even' to ye!" she said in her accented voice. "I suppose yer here to pick up our dear Candi."

"I am indeed" I replied. She let me in, and I saw Candi's parents sitting on the couches. They looked over at me, and smiled.

"So you're dating Candi?" Colby asked.

"Of course I am. I'm madly in love with her" I replied, smiling. Colby and Kris smiled together.

"Candi is too self-conscious to even so much as step outside wearing her dress. Make sure she isn't with you." Kris looked at me seriously. I nodded in understanding.

"She'll be having too much fun to care" I replied. It was probably not wise to tell them that I was going to dance with her about 3 times out of 15, since we both have obligations to the Host Club. Maybe they already understood that.

"And 'ere we have the mistress!" Helga said, catching my attention. She was gesturing to the top of the stairs where Candi stood.

My jaw almost dropped. Her dress looked gorgeous on her. The tight material hinted more of her figure than I had guessed. Her body had soft curves, and the short sandal-like heels she wore made her legs seem very long, especially combined with the hemline that didn't even reach her knee. The low neckline wasn't inappropriate, but it was low enough that the blue pendant she wore was easy to see. Her hair, though not styled, was neat and somehow prettier than usual. random geometric shapes were cut out of her dress, and even pale skin peeked out.

I noticed that she was inching backwards, probably because of the self-consciousness her parents mentioned. "Candi, you look absolutely stunning" I said, smiling at her. She smiled back.

"Thanks" she replied. She finally began walking down the stairs, and then hugged me. "I really appreciate it" she murmured in my ear.

"Then I should say it at least twenty times tonight, since this may never happen again." I chuckled, and she pulled away.

"We should probably head over now, especially since we're both Hosts of the party." Candi smiled and waved to her family. "Bye everyone."

"Have fun!" they all said together. Candi held my hand as she walked out with me. Finally in the limousine, I got to take a closer look at her. Her legs were perfectly smooth and had an even tone. Both her toenails and fingernails were painted blue. I'm glad I decided on blue for my splash of color, since she did the same. It was almost as if we planned this on purpose.

"You are so beautiful" I said, kissing her hand still in mine.

"I'll admit that you are quite dashing as well" she replied, smiling and kissing my hand still tangled in hers. I laughed with her, and looked at her eyes. Unless I've been smoking something illegal, I'd have to say that her eye color was changing. I remember it being a solid mix of blue and green, but the green seemed have disappeared, with more blue taking its place.

"Do your eyes change color?" I asked. She seemed surprised at this.

"What do you mean?"

"They're blue, like the color of your pendant." Maybe it was just the light.

"That's odd" she replied, shrugging. "Either way, I think we're here."

When I looked, I saw that we had pulled up to the roundabout neighboring the dance hall. I got out, and dashed around to open the door for her. Some girls looked, pointed, stared, drooled, etc., but I didn't care. Candi stepped out, and took my outstretched hand. I put my arm around her waist as the limo drove off. There were plenty of guys staring at Candi, and this came as a surprise.

Because Candi normally wore baggy clothes that hid her figure, guys must be just as fascinated with her beauty as I still am. It seems as if I'm going to be fighting off several guys during the next few hours. Unconsciously, I gripped her tighter. She looked at me with confusion, but shrugged, and put an arm around my waist as we walked.

"Finally! You two are here!" the Hiitachin twins said, pulling us along. I knew where the platform was, and they really didn't need to drag us. However, it was no use arguing.

"We found them!" the two announced when we were behind a curtain. It seems all the Hosts were to wear blue with their boring colors. I must've forgotten that fact. Still, I was glad Candi and I wore matching clothes.

"Good" Tamaki said, actually serious. "Kyouya, you know what your saying in the program. Candi, you…" Tamaki looked with confusion at Kaoru, who was drooling while staring at Candi. I put and arm around her, and growled slightly in my irritation. He snapped back to his usual listening self. I noticed that Mori was blushing, and looking away from Candi as she stood uncomfortably in front of everyone. She was inching backwards again with a blushing face.

I leaned in to her ear. "Candi, you are gorgeous. You don't need to worry about them. I'm all yours, and you're all mine." She looked up at me, and her eyes were definitely blue in this light. What caused the sudden change? The color shined and glittered like a sapphire, but yesterday they didn't.

"Thanks" she murmured. She stopped inching back, and her face returned back to normal.

"Candi, you don't need to worry about anything in the program, but you may be involved in a little bit at the end."

"What?" she asked.

"Let's go guys!" Tamaki said, ignoring her. He led the party up the steps of the platform, and everyone else lined up in the back. Tamaki and I stood in front of them, and the crowd quieted.

"Welcome to the Final Ball of the Host Club" I said with a fake, business-like smile on my face. "We first wish to thank you all for coming and enjoying the party we have prepared for you all." The fake smile hurt. It wasn't at all like the smiles around Candi.

"We also would like to wish you a wonderful time at our ball, and each Host will be dancing among the crowd. Feel free to ask any, should you want to" Tamaki said. The music began. It was a more modern song, but appropriate for the situation. The spotlight turned off, and the Hosts walked down the steps of the platform, where they were swarmed by all the girls wanting to dance with them. Other couples began dancing, probably laughing at the situation that unfolded before them.

Candi and I stood on the platform alone. I smiled at her, and held out my hand, bowing slightly. "Would you care to dance?"

"Preferably behind the curtain" she replied, taking my hand.

"Did I ever tell you that you're a genius?"


End file.
